Saddam was hanged early Saturday morning. The execution was held before dawn so it would not occur during the Sunni observance of Eid, the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice.

The former dictator was put to death four days after an Iraqi appeals court upheld his conviction and death sentence for killing 148 Shiite men and boys in Dujail in 1982 and less than two months after his trial ended. The hanging cut short a trial for massacring thousands of Kurds and precluded other trials.

Witnesses said Saddam was quiet and obedient as a noose was placed around his neck, The New York Times reported.

"He just gave up," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the country's national security adviser. "We were astonished. It was strange. He just gave up."

Rubaie said that the execution was held outside the Green Zone and was "an Iraqi operation from A to Z," CNN said.

An official from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office said that after the hanging some of the witnesses danced around the body.