Media broadcast scenes of jubilation

Some Iraqis took to the streets as the verdict was announced

The eyes of the media in Iraq and across the Middle East were riveted on the courtroom in Baghdad where the verdict in the Saddam trial was being announced.

Major Iraqi and pan-Arab TV stations broadcast the sentencing, but with a 20-minute time lag rather than live.

After the sentencing, Iraqi government-backed Al-Iraqiya TV broadcast scenes of jubilation, interspersed with a montage of trial highlights and clips from the years Saddam was in power, including executions.

It also showed scenes of his capture and played a song entitled Today Iraq calls for his execution.

Shortly before the verdicts were read out, the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera channel broadcast an appeal by a prominent Sunni leader, Saleh al-Mutlaq, for the trial to be scrapped.

"It is clear to the whole world, to the Iraqi people and to the political forces that this court is 100% politicised," he said.

"I urgently call on the prime minister and his government to intervene immediately to stop this trial and to stop the announcement of the verdict in order to spare the blood of Iraqis and uphold the stability of Iraq," al-Mutlaq said on Al-Jazeera.

Iraqis read pre-verdict comment in their Sunday newspapers.

'Historic day'

"Today is a historic day because it is the day when judgment will be passed on the most notorious torturer in human history, Saddam Hussein," said a commentator in the Baghdad version of Al-Sharq al-Awsat.

The London edition of Al-Sharq al-Awsat commented that "the death penalty would not be a surprise to anyone."

Judge Khalifa delivers his verdict

Baghdad's Al-Nahrain published a headline "Maliki calls for peaceful celebrations, hopes Saddam verdict will be equal to his crimes".

Before the verdict was announced, Al-Iraqiyah had broadcast a documentary called Saddam Hussein: An unforgettable nightmare.

It reported that demonstrators in Najaf Governorate had "burned pictures of dictator Saddam and demanded his execution".

Baghdad's Shia Al-Furat TV Television broadcast songs calling for revenge and "giving the tyrant the punishment he deserves for his crimes".

A live phone-in had callers expressing "the joy the Iraqis are expecting today" and hoping for "the execution of the dictator".

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