Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging at an unspecified location in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.
Iraqi TV said the execution took place just before 0600 local time (0300GMT).

The news was confirmed to the BBC by the Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister, Labeed Abawi.

Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former Iraqi chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar, are also reported to have been executed.

All three were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November after a year-long trial over the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail.

"Criminal Saddam was hanged to death," state-run Iraqiya television announced, as patriotic music and images of national monuments were broadcast.

Saddam Hussein was hanged first, followed by Barzan and then Bandar, it announced.

A scrolling headline read: "Saddam's execution marks the end of a dark period of Iraq's history."

Mariam al-Rayes, an ally of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told the TV station that the execution "was filmed and God willing it will be shown. There was one camera present, and a doctor was also present".

Other Arab TV stations aired live footage of the sunrise over Baghdad's Firdous Square, where US Marines pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein, after he was deposed in April 2003.


'Turning a page'

US troops and Iraqi security forces are on high alert for any violent backlash. The US State Department has urged all its embassies to increase security.

The BBC's Peter Greste in Baghdad says Shias have generally welcomed Saddam Hussein's death and hailed the execution as justice for the suffering endured under his leadership.

But Saddam's own Sunni tribesman were angered by his treatment and may well protest once more, our correspondent adds.

US President George W Bush hailed the execution as "an important milestone" on the road to building an Iraqi democracy, but warned it would not end the deadly violence there.

He said: "It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial.

"It is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and be an ally in the War on Terror."

UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett welcomed the fact that Saddam Hussein had been tried by an Iraqi court "for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed" and said "he has now been held to account".

France called on Iraqis to "look towards the future and work towards reconciliation and national unity".


Reference: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6218485.stm