IRAQ: Saddam Hussein hanged, say Iraqi officials

Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Saturday (December 30), U.S.-backed Iraqi television station Al Hurra and Arabic satellite channel Arabiya said. Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Labeed Abbawi also said the execution had taken place. The former Iraqi president ousted in April 2003 by a U.S.-led invasion was convicted in November of crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi'ite villagers from Dujail after a failed assassination bid in 1982. An appeals court upheld the death penalty on Tuesday and the government rushed through the procedures to hang him by the end of the year and before the Eid al-Adha holiday that starts on Saturday, coinciding with the haj pilgrimage to Mecca. Residents of the sprawling Shi'ite slum of Sadr City took to the streets to celebrate the news of the execution of former president Saddam Hussein. Jubilant people drove through the streets of the city, honking the horns of their cars while others danced on the pavements. "We congratulate the Iraqi people and all the Islamic sects on this great feast because the Eid is for all the Iraqi people. We have lived very difficult days under Saddam Hussein and thank God they have executed him on this great Eid," said Sadr City resident Issam Abdul Ameer. Despite fears of a backlash from Sunni insurgents, initial reactions were fairly muted as Iraqis woke to begin a week of religious holidays for Eid al-Adha. Unlike at previous times of tension, no curfew was imposed on Baghdad after the execution. But some residents of the Iraqi capital had mixed reactions. Some felt the timing -- the first day of the Eid -- was inappropriate. "Saddam's execution at this particular time will not benefit the Iraqi people. It is the first day of the Eid festival, our children have awaited this day to celebrate and not to see the Saddam We are now first dayng Eid, we and our children have awaited this day to celebrate and not to see Saddam executed. I do hope we will see things settling down in Iraq one day," one Baghdad resident told Reuters. But other did not care about the timing but only considered the overall outcome. "This is a great day for the Iraqi people especially that it coincides with Eid. We are very happy because he had destroyed this country and we thank God that he has been executed," said another Baghdadi. Iraqis in the Shiite holy city of Najaf 180 kilometres south of Baghdad took to the streets also celebrating Saddam death sentence.

ITN Source | January 1, 2007

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