Amnesty International's call for Saddam's execution order to be cancelled fell on deaf ears. Although, I am a nonviolence activist pro peace and justice, I am neither sad nor glad at the execution. A dictator was dead after a trial. Justice was done according to Iraq's law. However, I am anti capital punishment. Execution of human being is a violence. I believe even the state should not have right to take life of people. It is against human civilization.
Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein has been executed amid growing concern that a civil war in Iraq will flare.
United States president George W Bush said: "Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial -- the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime. Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule. 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. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law."
Al Jazeera - Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, has been hanged, according to Iraqi and US officials. Reports on Al Hurra, a US-backed television station, said that Saddam was executed shortly before 6am (03:00 GMT) on Saturday. Iraq's deputy foreign minister, Labeed Abbawi, said: "He has been executed. It has been officially announced that he has been executed." A US official also confirmed the hanging but gave no further details. The White House had no immediate comment.
BBC - 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.
Reuters - Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (10:00 p.m. EST) on Saturday, 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. "I believe so, yes. He has been executed. It has been officially announced that he has been executed," Abbawi said, speaking by telephone to BBC News 24.
AP - Saddam Hussein, the shotgun-waving dictator who ruled Iraq with a remorseless brutality for a quarter-century and was driven from power by a U.S.-led war that left his country in shambles, was taken to the gallows and executed Saturday, Iraqi
state-run television reported.
