The long continuing trial of Saddam Hussein ended on Sunday with a guilty verdict and death sentence for the former Iraqi president. Some celebrated and some remain angry at what they say is “injustice.” Some Shiite Muslims celebrated the sentence and some Sunni Muslim Arabs responded with hostility.

In Shiite districts of the capital people let out 15 minutes of celebratory gunfire. Some believe that the death penalty is wrong and consider it injustice. Some believe that the death penalty is not enough. “The death penalty is not enough. I want him buried alive twice as he did with my sons,” Um Hassan said, speaking of her son’s death. Two of her four sons were killed in Hussein’s security forces in the 1991 crackdown on a Shiite insurrection in Southern Iraq. Even the Prime Minister Nouri Maliki celebrated the result of the trial. “This is the day where you see the dictator… facing the penalty he deserves,” Maliki said in a televised address.

In Sunni Arab towns there were public displays of retaliation. Sunnis held up Iraqi flags and portraits of the man they still label “Their president.” One man said that Hussein did not commit any crimes and it was justice. Some are eve n saying that the committee was not appointed fairly and were set up to make sure that Hussein did not receive a fair trial. Riots broke out in the former president’s hometown, Tikrit. In the town Ad Dawr, rioters torched the courthouse. “This is a phony court!” proclaimed Adel Husein, 27, a Sunni mechanic in the city of Samarra. Former Vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison. Ramadan said, “It is very clear that the verdict was previously set and had nothing to do with all the trial sessions.”

Hussein gave the impression that he believed that he was still a man of power. He said, “I will listen to the judgment, but I will not stand up.” The bailiffs at once forced him to stand. One bailiff even appeared to give Hussein a mocking smile as Hussein was sentenced to hang for crimes against humanity, including murder, imprisonment, torture, forcible imprisonment, and relocation. “Long live Iraq! Long live the Arab nation! Down with the agents! God is great! Long live the people!” Hussein shouted. As he was leaving the courthouse Saddam Hussein even said to a bailiff, “Don’t push. I am your brother.”

Ending the long trial of Saddam Hussein and his government was Hussein’s half-brother. He received the death penalty. He offered the judge a compliment. “Congratulations.”