After the sentence, Saddam immediately shouted "Long live the people. Long live the nation. God is greatest."

Four guards escorted Saddam out of the courtroom after they cuffed him.

"This court is a creature of the U.S. military occupation, and the Iraqi court is just a tool and rubber stamp of the invaders," insisted Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi.

"The trial of the president should not proceed this way in a climate of mounting political pressure for a quick conviction that demolishes the trial's impartiality," he added.

U.S. officials reject accusations that the timing of the verdict was manipulated to give the Bush administration and GOP candidates a positive headline from Iraq after a month that witnessed noticeable surge in violence and reports saying that more than 100 U.S. troops were killed in October only.

They claim that the timing is sheer coincidence, and that the Americans' role was limited to logistics and security.

Many experts and political analysts questioned the credibility of the trial of Saddam and his codefendants, all charged with crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shias after a failed attempt to assassinate the former Iraqi leader in the town of Dujail in 1982.

But the Iraqi government insisted on carrying on with the procedures, despite delays and courtroom chaos.

"During all these months, the court has deliberately sought to limit our access and ability to defend the president ... this means that justice has not been done," Dulaimi further stated.

Some experts warn that sentencing Saddam to death, while it will benefit the American president hugely, will fuel animosities between Iraq's ethnic communities, and thus plunge the country into full-scale civil war, according to the aljazeera.com website.

Also sentenced to death were Barzan Hassan, Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former head of the intelligence agency, and Awad Bandar, the former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court.

Taha Yassin Ramadan, the former vice president of Iraq, was sentenced to life in prison.

Three other defendants were each sentenced three to 15 years in jail, and one was acquitted.