World split on Saddam's sentence

Saddam Hussein’s death sentence was celebrated by some as justice deserved or even divine, but denounced by others as a political ploy before critical US mid-term congressional elections.

Worldwide, the range of reactions – including a European outcry over capital punishment and doubts about the fairness of the tribunal that ordered Saddam to hang – reflected new geopolitical fault lines drawn after the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose its dictator.