BAGHDAD, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and two other defendants were sentenced to death in Baghdad Sunday for crimes against humanity.
Also receiving death sentences were Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Hassan, and former Chief Judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Bandar, CNN said.
Despite a curfew, Iraqis celebrated in the streets of Baghdad while protests were held in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.
Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison and the court acquitted Mohammed Azzawi Ali, a former Dujail Baath Party official, because of insufficient evidence, CNN said.
Abdullah Kadhem Ruwaid, Ali Dayem Ali and Misher Abdullah Ruwaid each were sentenced to 15 years.
Under Iraqi law, appeals are automatic for the three sentenced to death and the one receiving life in prison, CNN said.
Saddam was convicted of ordering the executions of 148 people in Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt against him.
He screamed, "Allahu Akhbar" ("God is great") and "damn you and your court" as the verdict and sentencing were announced, CNN said.
