Saddam Hussein has vowed to go the gallows as a "martyr" ready and willing to sacrifice himself, after Iraq's highest court rejected an appeal against his death sentence.

In a defiant letter released today but said to be written from his prison cell in November when he was first sentenced to death, the ex-dictator addresses Iraq’s citizens directly, urging them to unite against "the enemies".

"I sacrifice myself. If God wills it, he will place me among the true men and martyrs," he wrote. "O faithful people, I bid you farewell as my soul goes to God the compassionate…Long live Iraq. Long Live Iraq. Long live Palestine. Long live jihad and the Mujahidin. God is great."