Saddam execution video: Worldwide reaction rundown

Saddam Hussein's execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for US troops. Although the news of Saddam Hussein's execution was widely anticipated in the region, it has been greeted with a mixture of surprise and anger in some quarters - and notable silence in others.

saddam execution 65

Let's have a look at all these reactions worldwide

Reactions that consider it unfair

1. Arab reaction at Saddam death

Lawmakers and members of the militant Palestinian group, Hamas, have condemned the execution, with one calling it "a political assassination" that "violated international laws". Libya declared three days of national mourning.

2. Palestinian Reaction

Saddam Hussein's execution is being widely condemned by Palestinians, with this considered a 'black day.' The decision of the "American client government in Iraq to execute the Iraqi President is unfair and part of the American and Zionist conspiracy against Arab and Islamic countries," Jenin resident Faris Yousef said.

3. Aljazeera

The rushed execution of Saddam Hussein is simply wrong. It signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been denied their right to see justice served. It is a failed opportunity to establish the rule of law in Iraq, and raises concerns that egregious flaws during Hussein's trial proceedings will now set a strong precedent against a fair and independent judiciary. It will doubtless have a devastating impact on other related trials, as the key witness who could most compellingly shed light on the chain of command will have been silenced. Finally, Amnesty International opposes the death penalty, regardless of method, in all cases, and regards it as the ultimate, irreversible human rights abuse.

Amnesty International is concerned that Hussein's execution may inflame already volatile sectarian divisions, and urges all parties to protect the human rights of civilians in Iraq.

4. Iraqigirl Blog

I was wrong when I said that Saddam don't mean to me anything. I was wrong when I said that I think he is a bad guy (he might be, but he might be not).

Now I feel guilty because now I believe that he is a MAN (a brave man) if you just saw the video that someone took in his execution, you will see no fear from death. You will see a look in his face, a look of someone who is ready to challenge, who believe that he was right. Who believed he was doing the right thing after all.

He was smiling. I don't think that I will smile if I was in his shoes.

I will probably burst into tears and say Mameeee :(

5. Minda news

In so doing, the US succeeded in killing one of its previously sponsored and favorite dictators but it also made him a martyr in the eyes of his followers. His death will only further the violence and bloodshed in the land once dubbed the cradele of civilization. Damn this American government.

6. Thinking loud

Saddam Hussein was executed. Iraqis will always remember how, just a few seconds before he was hanged, he laughed when some men in the room chanted 'Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada.' Even in his last moments, the tyrant pissed off the oppressed! What a life we lived under Hussein's rule and what a life we are living now!

Reactions that consider it fair

1. Iraqi Thought

May all those who died or have suffered under the hands of Saddam and his stooges rest in peace. Your memories sadly will be only remembered by your families and those Iraqis in the same boat as you but thanks to politics the whole world will never really understand the tyrant Saddam Hussein really was.

2. New Hampshire reaction

Saddam Hussein's execution is a "triumph of the democratic process" in Iraq, according to U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg. Reid said the execution may lead to a short spike in the violence in Iraq. But he said he hoped Iraqis have learned something about achieving justice using the due process of law. "I'm glad it's bringing closure to some of the victims," he said. "Saddam was a tyrant who really has no comparison."

3. Riverbend

Execute the dictator. It's that simple.

When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you've put a group of Mullahs in power - execute the dictator.

Mixed reactions

1. Iraqi Delilah

His death did not disappoint me, yet it didn't make me even remotely happy. I was only deeply disappointed by the utter stupidity and lack of morality of those who had carried out the execution. I feel that justice wasn't served. He died for the murder of some 140-150 Iraqis in Dujail, and he was never charged and tried for the fifty thousand people who have filed against him for Halabja and Anfal. You may argue that he was going to be sentenced with death all the same.

2. Just Sooni

It is ironic how good things turn to be bad in Iraq. Justice served and Saddam got what he deserved. Like many Iraqis remembering his days, I believe the execution is the least he deserves, but let us see how the right thing was done! Just like always, to make one-step forward we end with three steps backward! Showing Saddam's execution like a Shiite revenge will only deepen the gap we have now.

3. Then Some!

Saddam did some good things, but he did a lot of horrible things as well. And any murderer has to be punished accordingly. Saddam's execution, I really don't know if I should call it an end, or a beginning. I agree with his execution, but at the same moment I don't believe it will change anything. My family, friends and relatives feel the same. Again I say, the ONLY thing I hope to come out of this whole fiasco is for it to be a lesson to our current "Saddams".

4. IraqPundit

I would never have thought it possible that by executing a ruthless mass murderer, Iraq would find a way to disgrace itself. Saddam deserved to hang, yet thanks to the breathtaking stupidity of Nouri Al Maliki's government, not only have Iraqis been further divided by the hanging, they have been diminished by it.

Other important reactions to the news:

1. U.S. President George Bush:

Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself.

2. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett:

I welcome the fact that Saddam Hussein has been tried by an Iraqi court for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed against the Iraqi people. He has now been held to account.

3. Senior Taliban leader, former Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund:

Bush and Blair have launched a crusade against Muslims. Saddam was hanged because he was a Muslim while slaves like Jalal Talabani in Iraq and Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan have been given power.

4. Afghan President Hamid Karzai:

Eid (The Muslim holiday which began on Saturday) is the day of happiness, the day of goodness, the day of reconciliation, not the day of revenge.

5. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki:

Saddam's execution puts an end to all the pathetic gambles on the return to dictatorship. I urge followers of the ousted regime to reconsider their stance as the door is still open to anyone who has no innocent blood on his hands, to help in rebuilding an Iraq for all Iraqis.

6. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi:

The government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi announced a three-day official mourning period following Saddam Hussein's execution and canceled all celebrations of the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast. In an official statement, the government ordered all its branches to lower the national flag to half staff. All celebrations all around the country should also be canceled.

7. Saddam's lawyers:

The world will know that Saddam Hussein lived honestly, died honestly, and maintained his principles. He did not lie when he declared his trial null.

8. John Howard, Australian Prime Minister:

I believe there is something quite heroic about a country that is going through the pain and the suffering that Iraq is going through, yet still extends due process to somebody who was a tyrant and brutal suppressor and murderer of his people.

That is the mark of a country that is trying against fearful odds to embrace democracy.

9. Sen. Joseph Biden, incoming chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

Iraq has closed one of the darkest chapters in its history and rid the world of a tyrant. Every effort was made to afford Saddam the judicial rights he denied to the 148 innocent victims of Dujail and to hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis during his brutal reign. I hope that the families of his many victims can now begin the healing process.