BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Iraqi television station Al Hurra said Saddam Hussein had been executed by hanging shortly after 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Saturday (10:00 pm eastern time Friday).

The former Iraqi president ousted in April 2003 by a U.S.- led invasion was convicted in November of crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi'ite villagers from Dujail after a failed assassination bid in 1982.

An appeals court upheld the death penalty on Tuesday. Iraq's government has kept details of its plans to conduct the execution completely secret amid concerns it could spark a violent backlash from his former supporters.

Bye bye Saddam!

Iraqi TV says Saddam Hussein executed

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers

1 minute ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein, the shotgun-waving dictator who ruled Iraq with a remorseless brutality for a quarter-century and was driven from power by a U.S.-led war that left his country in shambles, was taken to the gallows and executed Saturday, Iraqi state-run television reported.

It was a grim end for the 69-year-old leader who had vexed three U.S. presidents. Despite his ouster, Washington, its allies and the new Iraqi leaders remain mired in a fight to quell a stubborn insurgency by Saddam loyalists and a vicious sectarian conflict.

Also hanged were Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court.

State-run Iraqiya television news announcer said "criminal Saddam was hanged to death and the execution started with criminal Saddam then Barzan then Awad al-Bandar."

The station earlier was airing national songs after the first announcement and had a tag on the screen that read "with Saddam's execution marks the end of a dark period of Iraq's history."

A U.S. judge on Friday refused to stop Saddam's execution, rejecting a last-minute court challenge.

The execution came 56 days after a court convicted Saddam and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from a town where assassins tried to kill the dictator in 1982. Iraq's highest court rejected Saddam's appeal Monday and ordered him executed within 30 days.

They are showing it live in Iraq tonight. I would imagine it would be on the Internet within hours.

I just pray more violence doesn't break out

bye saddam

Good bye and good riddance.

Wow. I'm not sure how I feel. I mean, it was a long time in coming, IMO...but what now?

Wow. I'm not sure how I feel. I mean, it was a long time in coming, IMO...but what now?

Get Osama

^ LOL ya, that would be good.

It's shocking almost, even though we knew it was coming, that it's done. Saddam Hussien is dead. Whoa.

Well, that didn't take long! I'm surprised it happened so quickly...I guess I'm just used to the US justice system, which lets prisoners stay for years on death row.

I was a little surprised that ABC interrupted their programing (which I was watching at the time), yet NBC and CBS didn't. I guess it's true that ABC will interrupt for anything! But I know that if this happened during the soaps, NBC and CBS would have done the same thing!

I know what you mean. Then hopefully we will have our servicepeople back from overseas and all these senseless deaths and wars can end. Ultimately that is what I would like to see

It is pretty surreal.

Imagine how it will be when we go through this with Osama! (I pray that is soon)

It is pretty surreal.

Imagine how it will be when we go through this with Osama! (I pray that is soon)

I doubt that is going to happen anytime soon, well at least not for the next year or so.

^ LOL ya, that would be good.

It's shocking almost, even though we knew it was coming, that it's done. Saddam Hussien is dead. Whoa.

I know! It's almost hard to believe it...even though I know it's true. lol

So much violence has broken out today too. It just sucks that the whole thing had to happen. And I am talking about that one person could rule their country for 35 years and be so brutal. What is the world coming too?