Earthtimes- - The death sentence awarded to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein Sunday led to reactions in the country, mostly split on religious and ethnic lines, bringing fears of a prolonged period of turmoil. While the majority Shiite Muslims and minority ethnic Kurds, long sufferers of the deposed leader's persecution measures, celebrated the verdict, Sunni Muslims, who were his ardent supporters and participants in the regime, were disturbed and were protesting, albeit in a subdued manner.

Iraq watchers said things are going to be hard with the country, still in the grip of violence and administrative perils, as people, already divided over religious lines, are getting further polarized with the verdict.
As mortar fires were heard in the disturbed Baghdad suburbs and police imposed curfew on the capital fearing spread of violence in the aftermath of the verdict, Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, urged the people to be united declaring Saddam Hussein only received "the punishment he deserves."

Police said the curfew would go on through Monday on fears of violence.

Earlier, the trial court found Saddam guilty of the 1982 executions of 148 men and boys from the Shiite town of Dujail, and sentenced him to death by hanging.

His half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, and former judge Awad al-Bander were also sentenced to death for killing, torturing and deporting hundreds of people from the Shiite town of Dujail after Shiite gunmen tried to kill Saddam there in 1982.

Former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan received a life term. Three Baath party officials were jailed for 15 years and a minor defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence.

The court gave the convicted persons 10 days time to appeal in an appeals court. If that court upholds the conviction, Saddam will be executed within 30 days of the final judgment.

According to the people present in the court, Saddam was rather shaky as he stood up to hear the verdict. As the chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered him to get up for the verdict, he initially refused to do so, and two bailiffs had to drag him on to his feet. As the judge pronounced him guilty of the charges, he flared up and said, "Down with the invaders. Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)." Pointing a finger at the judge, he also said, "Long live the people, and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies." He was then ordered by the judge to be taken away from the court room.

The first case against Hussein, captured by U.S. soldiers from a cave hideout some three-and-a-half years ago, was filed in June 2005 and the trial began in October of that year. All through he has challenged the court's authority and legitimacy and at one time described the proceedings as theater.

During the course of the trial, one of the defense lawyers for Awad al Bander was kidnapped and killed by masked gunmen, another defense lawyer for Hussein's half-brother was killed by gunmen and in December 2005, one of the judges in the trial court stepped down after realizing that a co-defendant in the case was involved in his brother's execution. Earlier this year, chief judge Rizgar Amin, a Kurd, resigned after complaints by Shiite leaders that he had failed to keep control of court proceedings. He was then replaced by Raouf Abdel-Rahman.

U.S. president George W. Bush described the trial a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of the law.

U.S. officials dismissed charges that the verdict was manipulated to time it for the elections in the U.S.

Saddam's defense lawyers said they had little hope from an appeal.

Saddam admitted ordering the execution of 148 men, saying it justified in wartime against allies of Shiite Iran.

The trial was originally meant to build up on bigger and harsher cases against Saddam, involving the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. A second trial, involving the Anfal military campaign against Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s, in which prosecution said some 180,000 people perished, is already under way, with Saddam as principal defendant.

Iraqi court officials said Sunday Saddam could be executed before the Anfal trial ended. Some of them even said the execution could be just three months away. There is a provision in Iraqi law for the presidential council to confirm the death sentences and such sentences to be carried out within 30 days.

Several international human rights groups had demanded the trial to be held abroad. They claimed the killing of the defense lawyers, the resignation of the judge over political interference and flaws in evidence all meant that the trial is not fair.

The European Union and the Vatican, which are opposed to capital punishment, have urged Iraq not to hang Saddam