Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki promised here Sunday that door still open for Baathists, Saddamists to join the country's political process.

Maliki made the call in statements just one day after the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity.

In the statements, Maliki urged Bathists and Saddamists to reconsider their stands and join the country's political process.

"The door is still open before Baathists and Saddamists whose hands are not stained with the blood of the innocent to turn over a new leaf and join in rebuilding Iraq for the sake of all Iraqis, " Maliki promised.

In a statement released Saturday just hours prior to Saddam's execution, Maliki also called on Saddam followers to reconsider their tactics and join the political process to include all Iraqis.

"I urge followers of the ousted regime to reconsider their stances as the door is still open to anyone who has no innocent blood on his hands, to help in rebuilding an Iraq for all Iraqis," he said.

Maliki, meanwhile, described Saddam's execution as a lesson for all ruling despots who commit crimes against their people, saying that persecution of citizens would lead them to the same dead end of their predecessors who violated human rights.

The Iraqi justice has proved throughout the trial of Saddam and his henchmen that it was competent and impartial, said the statement.

U.S.-backed Iraqi TV Al Hurra reported in the early morning that Saddam was executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) Saturday.

The execution took place after Saddam, who was born on April 28, 1937, and was deposed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was handed over to the Iraqi authorities from a U.S. camp near Baghdad international airport where he had been held.

Source: Xinhua