The execution of Saddam Hussein took place on Saturday 30 December 2006. Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, after being found guilty and convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the murder of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in the town of Dujail in 1982, in retaliation for an assassination attempt against him.Saddam Hussein was President of Iraq from 16 July 1979 to 9 April 2003 when he was deposed during the 2003 invasion by a multinational force.