BAGHDAD (Agencies) -- In death as in life, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein triggered strong emotions around the world in response to his death by hanging.

Saddam Hussein was hanged at dawn on Saturday for crimes against humanity and was buried in the dead of night in his home village in northern Iraq, after his body was washed and covered in a white shroud in observance of Muslim rite by a small group of fellow tribesmen.

In Iran people celebrated the dictator’s death by congratulating one another and distributing candies and sweets on the streets, as a sign of happiness. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on state television that Saddam's execution “made those in Iraq, Iran and Kuwait who were victims of Saddam's crimes very happy.”

He said that although the execution was a “gratification” for the hundreds of thousands of Iranian war victims, disabled and still missing in action, “but we wonder why the court hearings of the Pinochets and Milosevics took so long but Saddam's so short.”

In Baghdad, Shias celebrated in the streets. The dictator’s reign was marked by persecution of Shia Muslims.

In Dearborn, Michigan, which has the largest Arabic population in the United States, people celebrated the event like an early New Year's Eve.

Many Kuwaitis, who remember Saddam's seven-month occupation of their country beginning in 1990, welcomed the death.

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran said he hoped Saddam's hanging would bring stability to Iraq, though he told Iraqi President Jalal Talabani by telephone the execution prevented the exposure of atrocities the former dictator committed during his rule, state-run television reported. President of the United States George W. Bush said Saddam received "the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime."

"Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror," he said in a statement.

Mourners and adversaries

Hundreds of angry mourners from Saddam's Sunni Arab minority who traveled to Awja from different parts of Iraq laid flowers and pictures of Saddam by the brick-and-mud tomb.

In Libya, flags were lowered to half-mast and a three-day period of national mourning was declared.

In Yemen, the government made a last-minute appeal for Saddam's life, sending a letter to President Bush and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, asking that the former dictator be spared. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Saddam "has been held to account for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed."

However, her country continued to oppose the death penalty, she said.

Russia, Germany, Austria and the Ukraine condemned the execution. So did the Scandinavian countries of Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor said, "While the German government respects this verdict, it is well-known that the German government opposes the death penalty."

Near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, people gathered to protest Saddam's execution and the United States' role in Iraq. They held anti-Bush signs and chanted for the President's impeachment.

And a spokesman for the Vatican, where the head of the Catholic Church, the Pope, lives warned that executing people could lead to attacks in revenge.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai appeared to criticize the timing of the execution, but said it was “the work of the Iraqi government” and would have “no effect” on Afghanistan.