TEHRAN – A considerable majority of Western Europeans would like to see former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed, according to poll results released Friday in Paris.

The poll, carried out by the Institut Novatris/Harris for the Paris daily Le Monde and broadcaster France 24, found that the majority of those polled (with the exception of Italians) were in favor of the execution of Saddam, although the death penalty has been abolished among European Union states.

The poll also shows that a considerable majority of Western Europeans and Americans are for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

The population most in favor of a U.S. withdrawal was in France with 90 percent in favor. Only 66 percent of U.S. citizens favored their country's withdrawal from Iraq.

As many as 82 percent of citizens in the United States (where the death penalty is legal) favored executing Saddam Hussein, compared to 69 percent of Britons, 58 percent of French, 53 percent of Germans and 51 percent of Spaniards.

46 percent of Italians were in favor of Saddam receiving the death penalty.