Saddam sentenced to death by hanging

Iraq's High Tribunal today found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death by hanging.

His half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of the former Revolutionary Court, were sentenced to join Saddam on the gallows.

After the verdict was read, a trembling Saddam yelled out, ''Life for the glorious nation, and death to its enemies'' and “God is great".

He initially refused Chief Judge Raouf Adbul-Rahman's order to rise. Two bailiffs lifted Saddam to his feet and he remained standing through the sentencing.

Clashes immediately broke out in north Baghdad's heavily Sunni Azamiyah district where police were battling machine guns.