Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq from 1979 until 2003

It would show him standing on the gallows with a Libyan resistance leader who fought Italian occupation, executed in 1931, Libya's Jana news agency said.

Libya declared three days of mourning after Saddam Hussein's death and cancelled public celebrations around the Eid religious holiday.

He was sentenced to death after being convicted of crimes against humanity.

An Iraqi court handed down the sentence in November after a year-long trial over the killings of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail in the 1980s.

Iraq's prime minister hailed the execution, but it also sparked protests among Sunni communities in the country.

Correspondents say the news was met with a mixture of surprise and anger in some parts of the Arab world.

On the eve of the hanging, Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi said Saddam Hussein was a prisoner of war who must be tried by Iraq's invaders, the US and Britain, according to Reuters news agency.

Flags on Libyan government buildings flew at half-mast following his death.