For hundreds of years they gathered in squares, greens and other public spaces to watch the condemned.

For voyeurs of the internet age there was no need to leave home: images of the former dictator’s execution were piped around the world courtesy of Google and YouTube.

Within 24 hours of the dictator’s death, his hanging had become the most watched execution in history.

An almost blanket ban by television stations could not hold back the tide of people wanting to see the two-minute mobile phone footage. By lunchtime yesterday at least a million people had viewed the sequence, with Google Video users awarding four stars out of five.

On YouTube, viewers scrambled to find the unedited version, with dozens of different execution films listed among the day’s “most viewed” videos.

The identity of the people who distributed the video around the web is unknown. Last night it had been put up on different websites dozens of times, and the source was impossible to trace. The video appeared not to have any identifying marks.

LiveLeak, another internet video site offering “uncensored news”, ground to a halt after receiving more than 100,000 visitors an hour.

On the internet the reaction to the footage tended towards one extreme or another.

One Google Video user said that it was “something out of Goya: black, meaningless, without justice, barbaric. Why was someone even allowed to make a film out of this man’s last moments?”

Another said: “Somewhere in between now and 9/11, I think we lost our humanity.”

But others said that they should be free to see it. “After losing just under 3,000 US troops, we as Americans have a right to see him die.”

Another said: “All people posting and saying that Google are bad for showing the video shouldn’t of bothered looking for it. You do have freedom to look or not look?”

Some responses suggested that the video may become a starting point for conspiracy theorists.

“Just so everyone is clear, this video, IN NO WAY, proves that Saddam Hussein has been hung.”

It said that crucial parts which were out of focus meant that it could all be a hoax. “Until Americans seen him actually hung by a clear and concise video, everyone should live in fear. If there is such a video, then we should be allowed to view it.”

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