BAGHDAD - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed, Iraqi state television reports.

According to the reports, the deposed Iraqi dictator was executed by hanging at dawn. Earlier, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Hussein would be hanged at dawn today.  He said the time was agreed upon during a meeting on December 29 between U.S. and Iraqi officials.
 
AP reported that official witnesses to the impending execution gathered in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone and a gallows had been erected.

Iraqi state television ran footage of Hussein-era atrocities.

U.S. forces in Iraq have also been put on high alert.

In the United States, a judge refused to stop Hussein’s execution, rejecting a last-minute court challenge by the former Iraqi president.

On November 5, Hussein was convicted for crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi’ite men.  An Iraqi appeals court upheld the death sentence on December 26.

Hussein was captured by U.S. troops hiding near his hometown in Tikrit on December 13, 2004. 

(compiled from agency reports)

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