Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the killings were "surely an execution" and President Francois Hollande described them as "horrible".

BBC: PKK Paris deaths: Turkey PM Erdogan blames 'internal feud'

White House deputy press secretary Scott Stanzel said President Bush was asleep when the execution took place and was not awakened.

CNN: Hussein executed with 'fear in his face'

But President Yahya Jammeh announced the new execution policy in a speech on state media Sunday that was rebroadcast Monday.

CNN: U.N. slams 'stream of executions' in Gambia

Sri Lanka has withdrawn its ambassador to Saudi Arabia in response to the execution, which Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had twice asked Saudi King Abdullah to stop.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

In a statement, the Sri Lankan foreign ministry said that President Rajapakse and the government deplored the execution "despite all efforts at the highest level of the government and the outcry of the people locally and internationally".

BBC: Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek beheaded in Saudi Arabia

Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office.

CNN: Sen. Allard's closed-door impeachment statement

In 1989, Romania's National Salvation Front named a new government headed by President Ion Iliescu, a day after announcing the execution of deposed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

CNN: Thursday,

They had, the commissioner-general of prisons said, to be ready, even though the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has yet to authorise an execution.

ECONOMIST: New executioners for Sri Lanka

Iraqi President Jalal Talibani, a Kurd who's opposed to the death penalty, has refused to sign the execution orders, amid calls from Sunnis to spare Hashim's life.

NPR: Iraq Set to Hang Three from Saddam Era