In 2006, al-Rubaie was widely credited with his humane treatment of the condemned Saddam Hussein, as he conducted the transfer of custody of the prisoner from US to Iraqi judicial authorities culminating in the execution of Saddam on 30 December 2006. In an interview with Vice News in December 2019, al-Rubaie displayed a noose he purported was the one used to hang Hussein, and claimed he "pulled the trigger" to kill the former dictator.