Baghdad - Turning on their TVs during the long holiday weekend, Iraqis were greeted by a familiar if unexpected face from their past: Saddam Hussein.

The late Iraqi dictator is lauded on a mysterious satellite channel that began broadcasting on the Islamic calendar's anniversary of his 2006 execution.

No one seems to know who is bankrolling the so-called Saddam Channel, although the Iraqi Government suspects it's Baathists whose political party Saddam once led. A man in Damascus, Syria, named Mohammed Jarboua, claimed to be its chairman.

The Saddam channel, he said, "didn't receive a penny from the Baathists" and is for Iraqis and other Arabs who "long for his rule".

Jarboua has clearly made considerable efforts to hide where it's aired from and refuses to say who is funding it besides "people who love us".

Iraqis responded with the kind of divided emotions that marked his reign.

"Iraqis don't need such a satellite channel because it has hostile intentions," said Hassan Subhi, a 28-year-old Shiite who owns an internet cafe in eastern Baghdad.

Others said they felt a nostalgic sorrow at the sight of their late leader, a Sunni Arab.

"All my family felt sad," said Samar Majid, a Sunni high school teacher in western Baghdad, mentioning images shown from Saddam's execution.

The channel, which is broadcast across the Arab world, dredges up the sectarian divisions that Saddam inspired among Shiites and Sunnis at a time when Iraq is gearing up for crucial national elections. Iraqi politicians have been arguing over parliamentary seat distribution in a dispute that has inflamed the splits. The wrangling will likely delay the vote beyond its constitutionally required January 30 deadline.

Saddam's hanging three years ago was on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday of the Islamic calendar. His execution remains a sore point for Saddam sympathisers still smarting over images of the defiant leader in his final moments as Shiites in the death chamber shouted curses.

The station's official name alternates between "Al-Lafeta" (the banner) and "Al-Arabi" (the Arab).

It is mostly a montage of flattering, still images of Saddam - some of him dressed in military uniform, others in a suit. One image shows his sons Uday and Qusay smiling with their father.

One image is that of a man burning an American flag. Another shows graves covered with Iraqi flags.

Among the many mysteries surrounding the channel is where it is being broadcast from. Speaking from Damascus, Jarboua said he is Algerian and that the Saddam Channel is based in Europe but refused to say where, citing safety concerns for its employees.

He said he started Al-Lafeta nine months ago in Lebanon, and has employees in Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Ziad Khassawneh, a Jordanian Baathist who once headed Saddam's defence team, said wealthy Iraqis living in Lebanon, Syria and other Arab countries are funding the channel. He declined to give names.