The execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on Saturday drew mixed reactions from governments and organizations in the Middle East.

The Arab League (AL) said the execution of Saddam represented a tragic end to the former Iraqi regime.

Alaa Rushdi, spokesman for AL Secretary-General Amr Moussa, expressed the hope that Saddam's execution would not deteriorate the security condition in Iraq.

He also called for continued efforts to reach reconciliation among Iraqi parties to surmount the present crisis.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alaa Hadidi voiced Egypt's regret for selection of the date to execute Saddam during a major religious holiday.

The spokesman said that Saddam was hanged on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or Greater Bairam, and during hajj with no regard to sentiments of Muslims worldwide or the sanctity of the Muslim occasion which represents an opportunity for mercy and tolerance.

Hadidi hoped that Saddam's execution would not further deteriorate the situation in the war-torn country.

Saddam, born on April 28, 1937 and deposed in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was executed by hanging at dawn on Saturday for crimes against humanity.

According to reports of Sky News English TV channel, Saddam will be buried in Ramadi, a Sunni insurgent stronghold, instead of native village of Uwja.

Jordan hoped that there would be no negative consequences for the hanging of Saddam that would affect the unity and solidarity of Iraqi people.

Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Judeh said the government called for Iraqis to preserve the unity and to discard violence.

The Iraqi people should look for the future in a way that guarantees success in realizing a true national reconciliation amongst all spectra of the Iraqi society, he said.

Saudi Arabia said it was dismayed by the timing of Saddam's hanging.

The hanging caused dismay as Saddam was executed at dawn on Saturday, the first day of four-day Muslim festival Eid al-Adha, the official SPA news agency said in a commentary.

"It was expected that the trial of Saddam would be longer and go through tight legal procedures, away from politicization," it said.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, called for calm after the hanging.

The OIC urged prominent Iraqi clerics to "implement the Mecca Document... by urging the Iraqi people to remain united," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the 57-member OIC, said in a statement.

Also on Saturday, Libya announced a three-day official mourning for Saddam after he was hung earlier in the day.

All public celebrations for Eid al-Adha festival were cancelled and flags on government buildings flew at half-mast to mourn Saddam.

Tunisia also expressed its "profound regret" over the timing of the hanging, saying it was a "serious attack on the feelings of Muslim peoples when Saddam was hanged on the first day of Eid al-Adha.

Source: Xinhua