Comments on the death penalty for Saddam Hussein 

"He did not ask for anything. He was carrying a Quran and said: 'I want this Quran to be given to this person,' a man he called Bander." - National Security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie.

A frame grab from Iraqi state televison shows a noose being placed around former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's neck December 30, 2006. [Xinhua/Iraqi State Televison ]

"Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial - the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime." - President George W. Bush.

Saddam's execution punishes "a crime with another crime. ... The death penalty is not a natural death. And no one can give death, not even the state." - Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues.

"The test of a government's commitment to human rights is measured by the way it treats its worst offenders. History will judge these actions harshly." - Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program.

"Saddam is paying the price for murdering tens of thousands of Iraqis. This is an unprecedented feeling of happiness. ... Nothing matches it, no festival or marriage or birth." - Abu Sinan, a resident of Sadr City, Baghdad's impoverished Shiite slum.

"This is an unfair verdict and if Saddam is executed or not ... he will remain a symbol and no one can delete it, neither the Iraqi government nor the Americans." - Muhssin Ali Mohammed of Tikrit, Saddam's hometown.

"He got his last prayer. 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." - Stephanie Dostie, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Christopher Dostie, was killed by an explosive devise a year ago.

"We are against the death penalty. However, what I think is important about this is to recognize that this trial of Saddam has been handled by the Iraqis themselves. ... It does give us a very clear reminder of the total and barbaric brutality of that regime." - British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant and murderous dictator. Now it is time for the people of Iraq to work to reconcile their differences and to heal the wounds of the past. Only that process will end the violence that has prevented Iraq from moving forward." - Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

"All sections of Iraqi society, as well as the wider international community, have an interest in ensuring that a death sentence provided for in Iraqi law is only imposed following a trial and appeal process that is, and is legitimately seen as, fair, credible and impartial." - Louise Arbour, UN high commissioner for human rights.

"It will not increase our moral authority in the world. ... Saddam's heinous crimes against humanity can never be diminished, but he was our ally while he was doing it. ... Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth will make us blind and disfigured. ... Saddam as a war trophy only deepens the catastrophe to which we are indelibly linked." - the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

"Putting into action such an inhumane sentence casts aside the aspirations of the Iraqi people for the transformation of their country." - Ravil Gainutdin, head of the Russian Council of Muftis, to the RIA-Novosti news agency.

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