The death sentence handed to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein has drawn mixed reactions in the Mideast country, underscoring the divide between Sunni and Shia Muslims, and from the international community.

After Iraq's High Tribunal announced Sunday that Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — who heads the Shia Muslim-dominated government — said the former president was given "the punishment he deserves."

Iraqis burn Saddam Hussein in effigy as they celebrate his death sentence on Sunday.
(Alaa al-Marjani/Associated Press)

"During Saddam Hussein's trial, the court received evidence from 130 witnesses," U.S. President George W. Bush said. "The man who once struck fear in the hearts of Iraqis had to listen to free Iraqis recount the acts of torture and murder that he ordered against their families and against them."

After the sentencing, the state-run Al-Iraqiya TV broadcast scenes of jubilation in Shia neighbourhoods in the east Baghdad suburb of Sadr City.

But there was outrage in the north and west of the country, which are mainly populated by the Sunni Muslim minority that made up the bulk of the ruling class under Saddam, who was Sunni.

Sunnis paraded through their former leader's hometown of Tikrit chanting, "We will avenge you, Saddam."

A senior Sunni member of parliament, who wished to remain anonymous, dismissed the decision, saying it was "a political verdict from a political court."

In a televised court session, the High Tribunal sentenced Saddam and his half-brother, the country's former intelligence chief, to death for crimes against humanity in connection with the killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail in 1982.

The penalty of hanging was also handed to the head of the country's former Revolutionary Court for carrying out the killings. Three other defendants received lesser sentences and one was acquitted.

Security was tightened in the Iraqi capital on Saturday in a bid to prevent an escalation of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia communities.

'Good day for Iraqi people,' says White House

The U.S. government praised the Iraqi judicial system on Sunday and said it was allowed to operate independently in arriving at its verdict.

"It's a good day for the Iraqi people," said White House Press Secretary Tony Snow. "We need to give [the judges] credit for doing their job and doing it in the way they saw fit and proper."

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said all the defendants were being "held to account for their crimes."

"Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein's regime. It is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice," she said.

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said he won't pass judgment on the verdict until the appeals process is complete.

"They've had an open and transparent trial where evidence was heard, but at this point, my understanding is there is an appeal process to follow," he said Sunday. "I think it would be pre-emptive to be passing any judgments or making any firm public declarations until all of those avenues have been exhausted."

"Obviously there is an impact on the ground in Iraq that we have to be very cognizant of, but I suspect as with most processes, this appeal will delay the inevitable."

Amnesty 'deplores' verdict

However, Amnesty International said it "deplores" the verdict and "doesn't consider it was a fair process."

"The court was not impartial. There were not adequate steps taken to protect the security of defence lawyers and witnesses," said Malcolm Smart, the group's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said although Iraqis "may face difficult days in the coming weeks, closing the book on Saddam and his regime is an opportunity to unite and build a better future."