Iraq should have done away with the death penalty to signal a fresh start in the post-Saddam era, according to the Berliner Zeitung. "The abolishment of the death penalty belongs to the most important achievements of democracy," the paper wrote. "When western European politicians welcome the death sentence, it shows their moral and political bankruptcy."

"Not many humans will find genuine satisfaction in the judgement against Saddam Hussein," the Stuttgarter Zeitung wrote. "The Islamist world will view (the verdict) as victor's justice."

"For President George W. Bush, the sentence for Saddam is without a doubt a political success that he very much needs ... but he shouldn't forget that the Iraq liberated from its dictator remains ungovernable," the Leipziger Volkszeitung commented.

Spain's El Pais condemned the use of the death penalty. Saddam's execution "would very likely make him a martyr for his supporters in the Sunni community, and make a return to calm in the country even more difficult."

France's La Figaro wrote: "It's a shame the verdict can give the impression of legitimizing a military intervention taken under false pretexts, when it should be before all else a founding act for a state based on the rule of law after 24 years of dictatorship."

"He may have been a brutal dictator, but there is every risk his hanging will bring more bloodshed...We have seen too many false dawns before in Iraq to have much hope the death of Saddam will be a turning point for the good. And it is British troops who will be in the firing line if there is any backlash," UK's The Mirror wrote.

The Guardian said that if "a new Iraq is to ever ... emerge from the ruins of the old, eschewing judicial murder would be a good start."

The Sun rejected such arguments as liberal hand-wringing. "There can be no more fitting end than a hangman's noose for this gangster-turned-president," the paper's editorial declared.