Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Australian government will continue to support the people of Iraq following the execution of Saddam Hussein.

    Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd, leader of Australia's largest opposition party, the Labor party, said Saddam Hussein deserved severe punishment for his crimes against humanity, but not the death penalty.

    "Labor has a universal position of opposition to the death penalty both at home and abroad," Rudd said in a statement.

    "It is not possible in our view to be selective in the application of this policy," he said.

    He also doubts Saddam's death will have any impact on the deadly sectarian unrest in Iraq.

    "Labor questions whether the execution of Saddam Hussein will in any way reduce sectarian and political violence in Iraq, which has already brought that country to the brink of civil war," he said.