Execution of Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, was executed by hanging on 30 December 2006. He had been sentenced to death by the Iraqi Special Tribunal after being convicted of crimes against humanity in connection with the Dujail massacre, in which 148 Iraqi Shi'ites were killed in the town of Dujail in 1982 in purported retaliation for an assassination attempt on Saddam.

Prior to the execution, Saddam requested to be executed by firing squad rather than hanging, citing his former role as commander-in-chief of the Iraqi military; the court denied this request. Two days before his execution, a letter attributed to Saddam appeared on the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party website, urging Iraqis to unite and to direct anger at decision-makers rather than the peoples of invading countries. His last meal was reported as chicken and rice with hot water and honey.

The execution took place at approximately 05:50–06:10 (UTC+3) on 30 December 2006, the first day of Eid al-Adha, at Camp Justice, a joint Iraqi-U.S. military base in Kazimain, a Baghdad suburb. Saddam was executed alone; his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar were executed on 15 January 2007, and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid was hanged on 25 January 2010. U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell stated that once "physical control" of Saddam was transferred to the Iraqi government, U.S. forces had no direct involvement in the execution, and no U.S. representatives were present in the chamber.

Witnesses, including Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie, described exchanges between Saddam and those present, including chants referencing Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and religious recitations from both Sunni and Shia traditions. Saddam was pronounced dead at 06:03. A claim by a tomb guard that Saddam's body was stabbed six times after death was disputed by the head of Saddam's tribe and denied by al-Rubaie.

Saddam's body was returned to his birthplace of Al-Awja, near Tikrit, and buried on 31 December 2006 near family members, including his sons Uday and Qusay Hussein. The Iraqi government released an official video of the lead-up to the execution, while a separately circulated mobile-phone recording showed the full hanging, including taunts from witnesses; Iraqi authorities arrested a guard suspected of recording it.

The execution drew varied reactions. Human Rights Watch stated it followed a "flawed trial" and marked a step away from the rule of law in Iraq. Amnesty International opposed the death penalty generally and called its use here "especially egregious" given concerns about trial fairness. Other legal observers, including Miranda Sissons and Michael Scharf, defended aspects of the trial's conduct and evidentiary basis. U.S. President George W. Bush later said the execution "looked like it was kind of a revenge killing" and expressed disappointment in how it was handled. Media reports also linked several copycat hanging deaths worldwide, including minors, to coverage of the execution.