<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-august-7-what-happened-on-this-day/ef23bd47-4d7e-4516-babe-deb9e6dc8c05" rel="" target="" title="Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein"><span>Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein</span></a><span> was sentenced to death on </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" rel="" target="" title="November 5, 2006"><span>November 5, 2006</span></a><span>, over the massacre of nearly 150 people 24 years earlier.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The trial came three years after he was removed from office by the US invasion of Iraq.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But despite the dictator having been out of office for years, the violence of his regime created a profound and lingering fear for those involved in the case.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Three of five presiding judges were never identified publicly for their own safety.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The lead prosecutor in the case was also not identified, despite much of the trial being televised.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And the trial was delayed by several witnesses being too frightened to attend for fear for their own safety.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iraq at the time remained in chaos, beset by sectarian violence including by those still loyal to Hussein.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/today-in-history-november-5-what-happened-on-this-day-saddam-hussein-execution/a8dd744c-2e4c-44e3-b90a-00d25de80ea4" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But the defence team also had targets on their back.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Throughout the course of the proceedings, three of the lawyers defending Hussein and his co-accused were assassinated.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The former dictator was a belligerent defendant, repeatedly shouting at the judges and denying that he had been ousted as president.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On several occasions he refused to enter the courtroom. He also went on hunger strike for 19 days.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Though he was accused of many crimes against humanity during his reign in Iraq, he was on trial for the Dujail Massacre of 1982.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Between 142 and 148 people were executed for their alleged involvement in an assassination attempt on Hussein.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Those arrested were tortured into confessions and executed. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Four people who had been found not guilty were mistakenly killed. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Two of those condemned to die were accidentally released.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After receiving his own death sentence, Hussein appealed the decision but it was denied a few weeks later.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Four days later, he was executed by hanging.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>His execution date had been kept a secret, with most people not knowing about the plan until after he had died.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But the execution itself was a raucous and terse affair, with guards mocking Hussein as they put the noose around his neck.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mobile phone video of the moments before his death was later leaked onto the internet.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span></span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/today-in-history" target="" title="For more from our Today in History archive, click here."><strong><span>For more from our Today in History archive, click here</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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