A dictator dies - but tyranny of violence goes on and on

A divided country marked the death of its former dictator with a mixture of carnage and celebration. Around the world, condemnation of the hastily carried-out execution grows. Andrew Malone reports

As the body of Saddam Hussein was displayed on Iraqi television wrapped in a white shroud, the dawn execution of the Iraqi dictator did little to lift the darkness engulfing the country and provoked a bitter worldwide debate over his punishment.

While America hailed the "act of justice" and exiled Iraqis danced in the streets, celebrating from Sydney to San Francisco, the first bombs of the post-Saddam world exploded on a minibus south of Baghdad, killing 25 people and injuring 62. The morgue was hastily filled with bodies, and the suspected bomber was cornered in the street and murdered by a mob.

While the Vatican and Islamic leaders condemned the execution, life in Iraq continued much as it had throughout Saddam's rule and the subsequent US-led occupation: with bloodshed, vengeance and death.

Scores of Iraqis are dying every day. It was revealed yesterday that the death toll for US troops since the invasion is just short of 3,000, with 108 killed in December, and pro-Saddam factions swore yesterday that the violence would continue. By last night, the day's death toll stood at more than 70.

But in Saddam's home town of Tikrit, where curfews were in force yesterday, many seethed at the hanging of the ousted president, and claimed Saddam was now a martyr in the fight against the US-backed government.

"Saddam will be a hero in our eyes," said Um Abdullah, a Sunni teacher and teacher in the town, who pledged to wear black to mourn him. "I have five kids and I will teach them to take revenge on Americans."

George Bush, the US President, accepted the turmoil in Iraq would continue but believed Saddam's death was a major step to normality. "Saddam Hussein's execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops," he said. "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, and be an ally in the war on terror."

The UK government hailed the fact he had been "held to account" for his crimes, but was strident in its opposition to the death penalty. "Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, speaking on behalf of the Government, said: "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.

"The British government does not support the use of the death penalty in Iraq or anywhere else. We advocate an end to the death penalty worldwide, regardless of the individual or the crime."

Other world powers protested about the grave repercussions. Russia warned the execution will simply add to Iraq's woes. "The country is being plunged into violence," said Mikhail Kamynin, the foreign ministry spokesman. "The execution of Saddam Hussein may lead to the further aggravation of the military-political atmosphere and an increase in ethnic and religious tension."

Libya announced three days of national mourning, calling the execution " barbaric".

There was also condemnation from human rights groups and the Vatican. " An execution is always tragic news, even in the case of a person who is guilty of grave crimes," said a spokesman for the Holy See. " Killing the guilty one is not the way to rebuild justice and reconcile society. On the contrary, there is the risk that the spirit of revenge is fuelled."

In the impoverished village of Awja, where Saddam was born, the people were refusing to accept he was dead and vowed to intensify their battle against American and British troops.

"If Saddam is executed he will be a martyr and he will enter history," a young man in his twenties said, sceptical that Saddam had in fact been hanged. A man standing beside him added: "If they execute him, we will rise up. We will all become a bomb."

Saddam, who was 69, rose from poverty in Awja to rule Iraq by fear for almost three decades before he was toppled by a US invasion in 2003. He was hanged for crimes against humanity at dawn yesterday for the killing and torture of Shias in the 1980s.

During his grip on power, Saddam surrounded himself with relatives from Awja and from nearby Tikrit, creating a praetorian circle of aides from the Sunni Arab Albu Nasir tribe, who yesterday called for him to be buried near the graves of his sons, Uday and Qusay, killed in 2003 by US troops. It was also near Awja that US forces found a dishevelled and disoriented Saddam hiding in a pit covered with polystyrene and a rug, near a shack in an orange grove.

Many Iraqis voiced their approval that their dictator's life had been snuffed out, echoing the views of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis forced to flee Saddam's death squads throughout his rule.

Abu Sinan, a resident of Sadr City, Baghdad's Shia slum district, spoke for many when he said: "Saddam is paying the price for murdering tens of thousands of Iraqis. This is an unprecedented feeling of happiness. Nothing matches it ­ no festival, marriage or birth."

Such sentiments were repeated on the streets of American cities, where exiled Iraqis honked car horns and celebrated.

Stephanie Dostie, whose husband, Sgt Shawn Christopher Dostie, was killed in Iraq by an explosive device a year ago, was glad to hear the news. "He [Saddam] got his last prayer," she said. "He got his last meal. I'm assuming he was probably able to talk to his family. And that's something my husband didn't get and something thousands of other soldiers didn't get."

But in many parts of the Muslim world, the news of Saddam's death was met with fury. In Saudi Arabia, Arab pilgrims in Mecca expressed outrage that Iraqi authorities had chosen to execute the former president on a major religious holiday.

"His execution on the day of Eid is an insult to all Muslims," said a Jordanian pilgrim, Nidal Mohammad Salah. "As a head of state, he should not be executed."

A radical group based in Syria, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in a statement that Saddam's execution aimed at creating "more divisions and internal conflicts in Iraq with a view to destroying and partitioning it and controlling its resources". The death may deepen hatred towards Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia, a bastion of Sunni Islam, whose Islamic orthodoxy, known as Wahhabism, regards Shias as virtual heretics.

"This timing was chosen to turn our joy during Eid to sadness. We must ready ourselves for a new enemy from the East," a user on an Islamist website said, referring to Shias in Iran.

Saddam, a Sunni, was admired by many Arabs for standing up to the US. Haj authorities fear his death could stoke tensions between Sunni and Shia pilgrims.

Many Shias regard Saddam's death as a gift from God. "Congratulations, this is like two Eids. I hope God will not have mercy on him," said Iraqi Nadir Abdullah, one of a group of jubilant pilgrims.

In India, home to 140 million Muslims, thousands took to the streets in sporadic protests across the country. They shouted anti-American slogans, burned effigies of President Bush and briefly blocked trains at main railway stations. "This was a glaring example of America's dictatorship over the rest of the world," said Maulana Khalid Rasheed, an imam.

In Iraq, thousands watched in silence as state television showed footage of guards in ski masks placing a noose around Saddam's neck. The footage cut off just before the execution. Biladi, a Shia-run channel, then showed Saddam in a white shroud, lying with his neck twisted at an awkward angle, with blood and a bruise on his left cheek.

Haider Hamed, a Shia in Baghdad whose uncle died in a Saddam purge, asked what would change: "He's gone but our problems continue."

QUOTES

What was said on the day of execution...

"It is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy"

George Bush, US President

"An execution is always tragic... even [when] a person is guilty of grave crimes"

Federico Lombardi, Vatican Spokesman

"The dossier of one of the world's most criminal dictators was closed"

News bulletin, Iranian State TV

"Saddam has now been held to account... for at least some of [his] appalling crimes"

Margaret Beckett, Foreign Secretary

"So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here? "

Thomas Sheck, US Soldier in Iraq

"His execution does not make an illegal war legal... [or] end the violence"

Menzies Campbell, Lib Dem Leader

"They felt very proud as they saw their father facing his executioners so bravely"

Rasha Oudeh, Daughters' Friend

"There is surprise and disapproval [at the hanging] on the... first days of Eid al-Adha"

News bulletin, Official Saudi TV

"This puts an end to all the pathetic gambles on a return to dictatorship"

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi Prime Minister