New Delhi: Security forces in Iraq are on a high alert on the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's execution on Sunday.
Hundreds of Saddam supporters gathered at the site of Saddam's grave in Ouja, few miles south of his hometown Tikrit, north of Baghdad.
Banners were up and protestors chanted support for their dead leader.
Saddam remains revered by sympathisers of his, mainly Sunni Arabs, who see his downfall as the start of the chaos in Iraq.
He was hanged for “crimes against humanity” on December 30 last year, three years after US forces arrested him from near Tikrit.
He was convicted by an Iraqi court for the killing of nearly 150 Shia Muslims in Dujail in the 1980s.
Reuters reports: Black graffiti lauding Saddam Hussein appeared overnight in his home town and small groups of mourners turned out.
''There is no life without the sun and no dignity without Saddam,'' read one painted slogan in, Tikrit. ''Paradise for the hero Saddam,'' read another.
The graffiti appeared on buildings including the town's police station and its agriculture and electricity directorates.
Seven poets recited poetry praising Saddam near his grave, and a group of about 25 men sat talking about life under Saddam and how Iraq had changed since his execution.
''A year has passed since the death of the leader but no positive changes have taken place. Things are worse -- we are ruled by Iran and America. The leader has been killed to satisfy Iran,'' said Adnan Jassim, 38, from Tikrit.
Security was stepped up in predominantly Sunni Arab provinces, witnesses and security officials said, in anticipation of possible attacks by die-hard supporters of the former Iraqi leader and his Arab nationalist Baath Party.
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