Black-painted graffiti lauding Saddam Hussein appeared overnight in his home town and small groups of mourners turned out at his grave today, the first anniversary of the former Iraqi leader's execution.
Saddam was hanged for crimes against humanity in a rushed execution criticised by the international community. It spurred anger among his fellow Sunni Arabs when images emerged on the Internet of Shi'ite officials taunting him on the gallows.
"There is no life without the sun and no dignity without Saddam," read one slogan in his home town, Tikrit, north of Baghdad. "Paradise for the hero Saddam," read another. The graffiti appeared on buildings including the town's police station and its agriculture and electricity directorates.
In Awja, the village near Tikrit that is Saddam's birthplace and his final resting place, Reuterstelevision filmed men, women and children crowding around his flower-covered tomb in a hall attached to a mosque. A group of about 25 men sat talking about life under Saddam and how Iraq had changed since his execution.
"A year has passed since the death of the leader but no positive changes have taken place. Things are worse -- we are ruled by Iran and America. The leader has been killed to satisfy Iran," said Adnan Jassim from Tikrit.
Security was stepped up in predominantly Sunni Arab provinces, witnesses and security officials said, in anticipation of possible attacks by die-hard supporters of the former Iraqi leader and his Arab nationalist Baath Party. The head of the security committee in Saddam's native Salahuddin province, Ahmed Saleh al-Jubouri, said Iraqi security forces were on alert.
Curfews were enforced in Tikrit and the oil refinery city of Baiji to the north, although the curfew in Tikrit was later lifted. Residents also reported more checkpoints in the town and Iraqi security forces were protecting government buildings.
But the potential for violence appeared slight given that many former pro-Saddam insurgents have joined forces with the US military in the months since his execution to fight Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, which Washington says is the biggest threat.
US military spokesman Rear Admiral Greg Smith said: "We have not seen any increased violence associated with his death".
Members of the 1920 Revolution Brigade and Islamic Army, groups which include former army officers in their ranks, have joined so-called concerned local citizen (CLC) groups paid by US forces to guard their neighbourhoods.
Saddam, toppled in a US-led invasion in 2003, was convicted of killing scores of Shia men in the town of Dujail after an attempt on his life there in 1982. Sunni Arab governments, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, criticised the timing of the execution, which took place at the start of the Eid al-Adha religious feast.
Saddam's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, former judge Awad al-Bandar and Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan followed him to the gallows. Saddam's feared cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of poison gas against Iraq's minority Kurds, and two other former regime officials have been convicted of genocide in a separate trial and are awaiting execution.
Their execution, however, has been delayed by a legal wrangle between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who opposes the death penalty, and Sunni Arab Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi.
Talabani and Hashemi oppose the execution of former Defence Minister Sultan Hashem and insist the hangings cannot go ahead without their authorisation. US forces have refused to hand over the men until the dispute is resolved.