A US-backed Iraqi court has sentenced the country's former leader Saddam Hussein to death by hanging for crimes against humanity on charges related to the killing of 148 Shi'ite men in Dujail after an assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.
The ousted president, visibly shaken, shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live the nation!".
Saddam, bearded and wearing a dark suit and white shirt, initially refused to stand before judge Rauf Abdel Rahman as the verdict and sentence were read out. But he was brought to his feet by two bailiffs.
After reading the verdict as the ex-president barracked from the dock, Judge Rahman told court officials curtly: "Take him out."
hi'ite residents chant slogans as they burn an effigy of Saddam eader Saddam Hussein in Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad today. Photo: REUTERS/AAli Abu Shish
The Iraqi High Tribunal also handed down death sentences to former revolutionary chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bander and Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti. Former Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison.
The charges stemmed from the killing of 148 Shi'ite men in Dujail after an assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government said Saddam Hussein had got what he deserved but a senior Sunni Arab member of parliament dismissed the verdict as political.
The discrepancy highlighted sectarian divisions that have turned increasingly violent since US forces overthrew Saddam in 2003.
"He is facing the punishment he deserves," Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist, said in a televised address to the nation two hours after the verdict.
The Islamic Party, Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab party, said that the government should have stopped the bloodshed in the country before sentencing Saddam.
"The government should have put food on the table of the starving people, stopped all criminal acts, death squads and sped up the national reconciliation before it puts all criminals before and after the fall of (Saddam's) regime on trial."
A senior Sunni Arab parliamentarian, who asked not be quoted by name for fear of sectarian reprisals, said, however: "This is a political verdict from a political court."
Mr Maliki said last month that Saddam's execution could not come soon enough, fuelling charges of political interference. But today he emphasised the independence of the court system.
Barzan Ibrahim, half brother of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the dock today. Photo: AP Photo/Scott Nelson
"Justice is stronger than its enemies and the law will win," Mr Maliki said. "For me his sentence does not represent anything because executing him is not worth the blood he spilled ... but it may bring some comfort to the families of the martyrs."
"Executing Saddam will not bring a loved one back from the dead or a senior cleric like Sadr," he added, referring to Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was killed in 1999.
Three defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison for torture and premeditated murder. Abdullah Kazim Ruwayyid and his son Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid were party officials Dujail, along with Ali Dayih Ali. They were believed responsible for the Dujail arrests.
Mohammed Azawi Ali, a former Dujail Baath Party official, was acquitted for lack of evidence and immediately freed.
A death sentence or life imprisonment generates an automatic appeal, delaying any execution by months at least. Saddam has said he wants to face a military firing squad, not the hangman. The appeal is expected to begin tomorrow.
Clashes immediately broke out in north Baghdad's heavily Sunni Azamiyah district where police were battling men with machine guns. At least seven mortar shells slammed to earth around the Abu Hanifa mosque, the holiest Sunni shrine in the capital. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Celebratory gunfire rang out elsewhere in Baghdad, and the people in Sadr City, the capital's Shiite slum, celebrated in the streets, calling out "Where are you Saddam? We want to fight you."
A jubilant crow of young men carried pictures of radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and handed out candy to children.
In Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, 1,000 people defied the curfew and carried pictures of the city's favourite son through the streets.
Some declared the court a product of the US "occupation forces" and decried the verdict.
Saddam Hussein reacts to the verdict in court
"By our souls, by our blood we sacrifice for you Saddam" and "Saddam your name shakes America."
People were celebrating in the streets of Dujail, a Tigris River city of 84,000, as the verdict was read. They burned pictures of their former tormentor.
The US embassy immediately issued a statement under the name of Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who said the verdicts "demonstrate the commitment of the Iraqi people to hold them [Saddam and his co-defendant] accountable."
"Although the Iraqis may face difficult days in the coming weeks, closing the book on Saddam and his regime is an opportunity to unite and build a better future," Mr Khalilzad said.
After the verdict was read, a trembling Saddam yelled out, "Long live the people, and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"
He initially refused Chief Judge Raouf Abdul-Rahman's order to rise to hear the verdict and sentence. Two bailiffs lifted Saddam to his feet, and he remained standing but turned to one guard, telling him to stop twisting his arm.
Before the trial began, one of Saddam's lawyers, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a memorandum in which he called the Saddam trial a "travesty."
Abdul-Rahman pointed to Clark and said in English, "Get out."
The sentencing of the former Iraqi leader was a mockery of justice, his defence team said.
"This is a mockery of justice and a judgement that comes from a sham and illegal court created by the U.S. occupation that cannot ever provide a fair trial," lawyer Bushra al-Khalil, said in Amman where the defence team is based.
PA