European leaders on Monday largely criticised the death sentence meted out to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, with some calling for the verdict to be rescinded.
Even British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's closest ally in the 2003 war that deposed the Iraqi dictator, declared his opposition to the death penalty for "Saddam or anybody else."
But Blair otherwise remained tight-lipped about the verdict, noting during a press conference that Saddam's trial offered a window on Iraq's brutal past -- "the brutality, the tyranny, the hundreds of thousands of people that he killed, the wars in which there were a million casualties."
Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva argued the death-by-hanging verdict should not be implemented. That viewpoint was echoed earlier by both the 46-member Council of Europe and Finland, which currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency.
"On a personal level, I am against the death sentence and I completely share the declaration by the European Union calling for the death penalty not to be applied to Saddam Hussein," Cavaco Silva said, in remarks quoted by Portuguese news agency Lusa.
He nevertheless joined other European governments in hailing the end of the trial. "It's a good thing that the new Iraqi regime was able to see the trial of Saddam Hussein through," Cavaco Silva said.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi also declared his opposition to the sentence, mirroring statements from Denmark, Spain, Sweden and Ireland.
"Italy is against the death penalty and so even in such a dramatic case as Saddam Hussein we still think that the death penalty must not be put into action," Prodi said on Monday, following talks in London with Blair.
Earlier on Monday Prodi's foreign minister, Massimo D'Alema, warned in Paris that executing Saddam would be an "unacceptable" mistake that could throw Iraq into a "veritable civil war."
Fears the sentence could fuel violence were also aired by French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste Blazy.
"I hope this decision will not lead to new tensions and that the Iraqis will show restraint, whatever community they belong to," Douste-Blazy said.
But condemnation of the death penalty was not universal, with right-wing former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar -- a close ally of US President George W. Bush -- welcoming the sentence.
"I believe that it is a just sentence. Saddam Hussein was a major criminal, responsible for the murder of thousands of people," Aznar told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski, meanwhile, suggested the sentence was inevitable. "Because the death penalty is in force in Arab countries, I consider that once Saddam Hussein was found guilty it was the only possible verdict," Kaczynski told reporters.
The Polish head of state is known to favour the death penalty. He recently said he supported the reintroduction of capital punishment in Poland, although he acknowledged that such a move would be impossible because the country belonged to the EU.
Saddam's death sentence also divided European commentators. Many newspapers voiced concerns his eventual execution would amount to a "victor's justice" for the US-led coalition in Iraq -- on the eve of crucial, mid-term elections in the United States.
"It's a shame that the verdict can give the impression of legitimising a military intervention taken under false pretexts, when it should be above all else a founding act for a state based on the rule of law after 24 years of dictatorship," wrote France's Le Figaro newspaper.
But other newspapers cheered the sentence, saying it was a fitting end for a brutal dictator and necessary for Iraq to turn the page on its past.
"The death of Saddam is not a sufficient condition for the establishment of democracy in Iraq but it is certainly a necessary one," wrote Britain's right-wing Daily Telegraph. "Saddam, like his victims, is destined for an unmarked grave, which is where he belongs."