Saddam Hussein will be executed no later than Saturday, said an Iraqi judge authorized to attend his hanging. American and Iraqi officials met to set the hour of his death. As the time approached, Saddam received two of his half brothers in his cell on Thursday and was said to have given them his personal belongings and a copy of his will.  Munir Haddad, a judge on the appeals court that upheld Saddam's death sentence, said all documents required for the execution were ready. They included an order known as a "red card" that must be delivered to the head of the prison where Saddam is to be executed.

Those cleared to attend the execution included a Muslim cleric, lawmakers, senior officials and relatives of victims of Saddam's brutal rule, the official said. Aides to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were waiting for U.S. representatives to arrive at his office to set the hour for the execution, the official said. He did not disclose the location of the gallows.

"Saddam will be executed today or tomorrow," Haddad said. "All the measures have been done. … There is no reason for delays." The physical transfer of Saddam from U.S. to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged. "We have agreed with the Americans that the handover will take place only a few minutes before he is executed," the official said.

"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully," al-Nauimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated "that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed," he said.

Saddam's lawyers issued a statement Friday calling on "everybody to do everything to stop this unfair execution." The statement also said the former president had been transferred from U.S. custody, though American and Iraqi officials later denied that.

Saddam has been in U.S. custody since he was captured in December 2003. Tom Casey, deputy spokesman at the State Department, said Friday afternoon that Saddam remained in American hands. In Baghdad, an Iraqi government official who refused to be identified by name because he was not authorized to release the information said authorities there were not yet in control of Saddam.