Thousands of Iraqis sang, danced, and unleashed celebratory bursts of gunfire yesterday as Saddam Hussein finally faced the consequences of his tyrannical rule in a Baghdad courtroom.

At the conclusion of his 13-month trial, the former dictator was found guilty of crimes against humanity and told by the chief judge that he would be hanged.

Saddam, 69, was shaken but defiant as the sentence was read out in the court set up to try him and his allies. He tried repeatedly to drown out the judge by shouting “God is great” and “Long live Iraq.”

His defense team condemned the verdict as “victors’ justice.”

Two of Saddam’s henchmen, including his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, were also sentenced to hang for their involvement in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in the village of Dujail in 1982. His former vice president was sentenced to life in prison and three low-level Baath officials were jailed for 15 years.

The death sentences are subject to automatic review, which may prove a lengthy process. But if the verdict is approved, the execution has to be carried out within 30 days of that decision.

Prime Minister al-Maliki, a Shiite, has said he believes that a quick execution is essential to help curtail the insurgency.

Despite yesterday’s verdict, hearings into a second case against Saddam, involving genocide against the Kurds in the 1980s, will continue, and he may not face execution until the conclusion of proceedings next year.

Fears remain that Saddam loyalists behind the insurgency will take comfort that their inspiration could be alive for months. But Mr. Maliki declared the Saddam “era” over. In an address to the nation, he called for unity. He added: “The Iraqi martyrs now have the right to smile and celebrate a little by this death sentence against this criminal and his aides.”

Moments after the unanimous verdict by the five judges was announced, police were attacked by armed men in northern Baghdad’s Azamiyah district — where the population is Sunni, as Saddam is.

Around 1,000 people took to the streets in Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, waving pictures of him and chanting “Saddam, your name shakes America.” The government later shut down two Sunni television stations, accusing them of inciting violence. But in Shiite parts of the country, volleys of gunfire filled the sky, and in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a Shiite stronghold, crowds ignored the curfew to take to the streets and hand sweets to children to mark the joyful and cathartic moment.

In Najaf, there were people dancing on the street, and Shiite policemen were seen firing their weapons into the air.

The trial, which frequently descended into farce, was blighted by the assassination of three defense lawyers, accusations of political interference, the departure of two chief judges, and walkouts by the defendants. At its conclusion yesterday, state television showed repeated images of Saddam hearing the verdict interspliced with footage of cheering crowds and a video in which a singer in judge’s robes stood in a courtroom and celebrated the execution order.

The verdict by the American-created court came as the American public was preparing to vote in midterm elections, which are seen in part as a referendum on President Bush’s record in Iraq.