Italy airs hero's execution

Rome - An Italian hostage who told his Iraqi captors "I will show you how an Italian dies", seconds before he was shot in the head two years ago was hailed as a hero on Monday as Italians viewed the footage from his execution for the first time.

In the video, released on Monday by Rome prosecutors, security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 35, is shown kneeling on the ground with his face covered and hands tied behind his back, seconds before he was killed on April 14 2004.

Quattrocchi asked his captors to take his hood off, but they refused, to which he replied "I will show you how an Italian dies".

The video was aired on several television channels. They did not, however, show the moment of the actual execution.

"Quattrocchi died a hero," Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini was quoted as saying by Italian news agencies.

"Quattrocchi showed those executioners how a man can die with great dignity."

Quattrocchi and three other Italian men working as private guards in Iraq were kidnapped on April 12 2004.

Soon after, the captors issued a videotape of Quattrocchi's execution but it was never aired at the time, according to news reports.

The three others eventually were freed.

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