The former vice president of Iraq, Taha Yassin Ramadan, was sentenced to life in prison.

Three Baath Party officials were sentenced to 15 years in prison and one was cleared for lack of evidence.

At the Iraqi High Tribunal, Saddam stood accused of crimes against humanity. In particular, he was charged with the deaths of 148 people in revenge for an assassination attempt on him. The death sentences and life sentence are subject to automatic appeal, CNN reported.

"Long live the people. Down with the traitors. God is great," a translator quoted Saddam as saying after he heard the verdict, according to CNN.

After the verdict, the Associated Press reported, Saddam's fellow Sunnis paraded through the former dictator's hometown of Tikrit, chanting, "We will avenge you Saddam." Shi'a areas celebrated the verdict, AP reported.

Before the delivery of the verdict, Iraq's government imposed curfews and canceled army leave on the prospect that the verdict would prompt further violence in the country, news agencies said.

Saddam's lawyers said he expressed readiness to die "with honor and with no fear," Reuters reported.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said "closing the book on Saddam and his regime" was a chance for Iraqis to unite, the news service reported.

The verdicts come almost three years after Saddam was captured by U.S. forces and three and a half years after Baghdad fell to the U.S. effort to oust the Iraqi leader.