Date & Time of Death, December 30, 2006, at 5:55a.m.

Khazimiya, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein, the ousted Iraqi president was hanged by Iraqi authorities early Saturday. Saddam's tragic end comes at a day where Muslims celebrate the first day of Sacrifice Feast (Eid Al-udha).

State-run Iraqiya television announced the execution of the late president Saddam Hussein. National Security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie, who authorized the execution, said that the operation was an Iraqi operation from A to Z. And he later announced that "Saddam Era Has Gone Forever."

"We wanted [Saddam] to be executed on a special day," al-Rubaie told Iraqiya.

Asked if Saddam resisted, al-Rubaie said no. "He totally surrendered," he said.

He said a judge read the sentence to Saddam, who was taken in handcuffs to the execution room. When he stood in the execution room, photographs and video footage were taken, al-Rubaie said.

"Criminal Saddam was hanged to death," Iraqiya television said in an announcement. The station played patriotic music and showed images of national monuments and other landmarks.

Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations urged the world to remember the victims of Saddam Hussein in comments broadcast shortly after his execution.

Final preparations were underway for Saddam Hussein's execution shortly before dawn on Saturday, Arabic television stations said, reporting a cleric had arrived to hear any final words and witnesses were in place.

The Iraqi government readied all the necessary documents, including a "red card" - an execution order introduced during Saddam's dictatorship. As the hour of his death approached, Saddam received two of his half brothers in his cell on Thursday and was said to have given them his personal belongings and a copy of his will.

Najeeb al-Nueimi, a member of Saddam's legal team in Doha, Qatar, said he too requested a final meeting with the deposed Iraqi leader. "His daughter in Amman was crying, she said 'Take me with you,"' al-Nueimi said late Friday.

But he said their request was rejected.

A senior Iraqi government official said in the early hours of Saturday that time of Hussein's execution was agreed upon during a meeting between U.S. and Iraqi officials.

"The time has been agreed upon. It will be done by six o'clock in the morning," the official said. "The agreement was reached during a meeting between Iraqi and American officials. Saddam will be handed over shortly before the execution."

The White House declined to comment on the timing of the execution.

The former president had been held at Camp Cropper, an American military prison where he was expected to remain until the day of his execution, at which point he was transferred to Iraqi authorities.

On Tuesday, an Iraqi appeals court upheld Saddam's death sentence for the killing of 148 people who were detained after an attempt to assassinate him in the northern Iraqi city of Dujail in 1982. The court said the former president should be hanged within 30 days.

"Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence," al-Maliki said in comments released by his office Friday.

Al-Maliki said those who oppose the execution of Saddam were insulting the honor of his victims. His office said he made the remarks in a meeting with families of people who died during Saddam's rule.

The Iraqi presidency sent a letter to al-Maliki's office saying that the death sentence does not have to be approved by President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The official, who said he had read the letter, quoted it as saying that the presidency's opinion was "identical" to that of the appeals court that upheld Saddam's death sentence.

On Thursday, Saddam's chief lawyer beseeched world leaders to prevent the United States from handing over the ousted dictator to Iraqi authorities.

"According to the international conventions, it is forbidden to hand a prisoner of war to his adversary," Khalil al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.

"I urge all the international and legal organizations, the United Nations secretary-general, the Arab League and all the leaders of the world to rapidly prevent the American administration from handing the president to the Iraqi authorities," al-Dulaimi said.

After Saddam's death sentence was handed down last month, Louise Arbour, the UN high commissioner for human rights, urged Iraq to ensure a fair appeals process and to refrain from executing Saddam even if the sentence is upheld.