A Baghdad-based British Anglican priest has told a US news network that Christians are considerably worse off now than they were during the regime of the late Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former dictator, whose deposition he welcomed.

Human rights, religious and civic political activists are stepping up the global campaign for the abolition of the death penalty, in the wake of overwhelming worldwide criticism of the manner and impact of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's execution.

Welsh Labour MP Ann Clwyd, a long-term campaigner for human rights in Iraq, has said that Dr Rowan Williams did not do enough to get Saddam Hussein indicted for mass murder before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 ‚Ä' when he was Archbishop of Wales.

The auxiliary bishop of the Chaldeans in Baghdad, Shlemon Warduni, has called on fellow-believers to “continue to pray for peace across the world and today especially in Iraq” following the execution of former dictator Saddam Hussein at 6.10am today.

Following the execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein earlier this morning(30 December 2006), the general secretary of the World Council of Churches issued a statement asking God to grant the nation of Iraq "the mercy, justice and compassion that it has long been denied" and "an end to fear and death that marked Saddam Hussein's rule and that continue now".

Leaders of Iraq's various communities living in exile have expressed continuing concerns over the possibility of more sectarian violence following the execution of former dictator Saddam Hussein, says Journal Chretien in France