Saddam Hussein executed in Baghdad
Baghdad, Dec 30 Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed early Saturday morning.
Saddam's death came four days after an Iraqi court upheld the death sentence handed down after he was convicted for the 1982 massacre in the Iraqi city of Dujail, according to information based on Iraqi television reports.
The hanging took place more than three years after Saddam's regime was toppled by a US-led invasion and after a lengthy Iraq judicial process that resulted in his conviction and sentencing in November.
Since receiving the sentence, Saddam, 69, had made several appeals for his life, including issuing a statement urging Iraqis to rally against the execution.
The Iraqi appellate court ordered the sentence to be carried out within 30 days of Tuesday's ruling and there had been speculation it could take place at any moment since.
Saddam had been in US custody since he was found by US troops hiding in a hole near Tikrit in December 2003 following months of living on the run.
Saddam's trial began in July 2004 but was frequently interrupted by what began as a bumpy judicial process and led to international criticism of the process. Had Saddam not been executed, he would have likely faced another trial for the gassing of thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988, his regime's most infamous crime.
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