KEY POINTS:
Saddam Hussein went to his death in a scornful exchange with the masked hangmen who taunted him with sectarian jibes even as the noose was tightened around his neck.
Grainy and jerky footage circulating on the internet, apparently filmed by a mobile phone, contrasted with the officially sanctioned pictures broadcast by Iraqi television on Saturday which bestowed a silent dignity on the Iraqi dictator's last moments.
But al-Jazeera television broadcast a fuller version.
It shows Saddam dropping through a trapdoor to his death, and he can be seen and heard exchanging insults with his Shiite executioners and a number of witnesses present.
Saddam's final words were in keeping with his court appearances, during which he railed against his tormentors and the invaders of his country.
National security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie told the New York Times that one of the guards shouted at Saddam: "You have destroyed us.
"You have killed us.
"You have made us live in destitution."
"I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persians and Americans," Saddam responded.
"God damn you," the guard said.
"God damn you," came the reply.
The assembled Iraqi witnesses to the execution, gathered below the gallows, can be heard ignoring appeals for propriety as a man shouts out "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada".
That is a reference to the powerful young Shiite militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, whose father, a revered Shiite cleric, was executed by Saddam in 1999.
Saddam hits back: "Do you consider this bravery?"
Another voice praises the founder of the Shiite Dawa Party, who was executed in 1980 along with his sister by Saddam.
In a further terse exchange, responding to a shouted "Go to hell", Saddam responds: "To the hell that is Iraq?"
The images, which can be viewed across Iraq and the world, can only serve to heighten the sectarian tensions between the Shiite rulers of the country and the Sunni minority.
Hostilities between the two Muslim sects have brought the country to the brink of civil war.
With the noose wrapped around a black scarf placed around his neck, Saddam begins reciting the Muslim profession of faith, the Shahada.
He had carried a Koran as he had entered the gallows chamber, dressed in a black overcoat.
"There is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God," he intones.
"There is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad ... "
His words end abruptly halfway through the second verse as he falls through the trapdoor.
The 69-year old dictator can then be seen swinging on the rope, his eyes open and with his head lolling at a 90-degree angle to his right.
"The tyrant has fallen!" comes the cry.
"Let him swing for three minutes" are the last words on the tape.
Famous last words of a tyrant
Voices: "You have destroyed us. You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution."
Saddam: "I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persians and Americans."
Voices: "God damn you."
Saddam: "God damn you."
Saddam: "Oh God."
Voices: "May God's blessings be upon Muhammad and his household. And may God hasten their appearance and curse their enemies."
Voices: "Moqtada [al-Sadr] ... Moqtada ... Moqtada."
Saddam: "Do you consider this bravery?"
Voice: "Long live Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr."
Voice: "Go to hell."
Saddam: "To the hell that is Iraq?"
Voice: "Please do not. The man is being executed. Please no, I beg you to stop."
Saddam: "There is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God. There is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad ... "
- INDEPENDENT
