Breaking News: Saddam Hussein executed

A small group of Iraqis witnessed the execution inside a building at an Iraqi compound known by the Americans as Camp Justice, a secure facility in the northern Baghdad suburb of Khadimeya. They watched as a judge read out the sentence to Saddam Hussein. The former Iraqi leader was carrying a copy of the Koran and asked for it to be given to a friend. Footage broadcast later on Iraqi state TV showed a subdued Saddam Hussein being led to gallows by a group of masked men. He was dressed in a white shirt and dark overcoat, rather than prison garb. Saddam Hussein was led up onto the gallows platform and a dark piece of cloth placed around his neck, followed by the noose. When the hangman stepped forward to put the hood over his head, Saddam Hussein made it clear he wanted to die without it. The hanging itself was not broadcast. The execution procedure took just a few minutes.