Saddam Hussein was executed on Dec 30, 2006 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi'a in 1982.

Saddam was president of Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and was a key member in the 1968 coup d'état by the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba'ath party. His rule saw the nationization of oil and banks, the Iran-Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait, and the Gulf Wars I and II. It is estimated that 250,000 Iraqis died at the hands of his security forces as well as several hundred thousand as a result of the invasions of Iran and Kuwait.

The image is composed from approximately 100 manipulated stills from an unauthorized mobile recording made by a guard at the foot of the gallows and shows a defiant Saddam Hussein moments before his execution. A state-run Iraqi news crew records from above while a guard films the low quality viral phone video from below. Saddam can be heard responding to the militia's taunts and reciting the Shahada, "I bear witness that there is no deity but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God."