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Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq with an iron fist for more than 20 years, controlling the Middle Eastern nation through fear, brutal and control, all-the-whilecrushing any who went against him.

Yet, in 2006, his regime came crashing down, following a US-led invasion of the country, and in the early hours of December 30 2006, the man who once commanded an armystood beneath a hangman’s noose, waiting for the drop.

Hussein was officially convicted of crimes against humanity relating to a massacre that had taken place back in 1982 in Dujail, which saw 148 Shi’ite men and boys brutally killed following an attempted assassination. After a lengthy and controversial trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal, he was sentenced to death by hanging.

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Saddam had requested execution by firing squad, arguing it was the proper military punishment for a former commander-in-chief, but the court refused.

In the hours before his death at Camp Justice in Baghdad, the former despot ate a final meal of chicken and rice with hot water and honey. He carried a Qur’an with him as he was led into the execution chamber shortly before dawn on the first day of Eid al-Adha.

Witnesses inside the room later described a tense and chaotic atmosphere. While some officials remained silent, others jeered as chants praising Islamic cleric Muqtada al-Sadr rang out as Saddam stood on the gallows platform, rope dangling above him.

Despite being constantly taunted throughout the procedure, those present said he appeared composed.

When asked whether he felt fear or remorse, he reportedly replied that he was not afraid. Instead, he said that he spent his life fighting aggression.

As the noose was tightened around his neck, Saddam began reciting the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith. He raised his voice over the noise in the chamber.

Then came his final six words.

“The Muslim Ummah will be victorious.”

Before he could say any more the trapdoor opened, and an audible crack was heard as he fell. He was pronounced dead minutes later.

While official Iraqi government video showed him only in the moments before the execution, cutting away before the drop, a grainy mobile phone recording, secretly filmed from the chamber, later surfaced online.

The footage captured the full hanging, the sectarian taunts and Hussein’s final defiant exchanges, sparking international outrage and debate over the dignity of the execution.

Within hours, his body was flown by helicopter to his birthplace of Al-Awja near Tikrit where was buried in front of his two sons.