The execution of Timothy McVeigh was condemned across Europe on the eve of President Bush's first official visit to the continent. In Strasbourg the Council of Europe condemned the execution as "sad, pathetic and wrong" and called on the US to outlaw the death penalty.
"Timothy McVeigh was a cold-blooded murderer. He will not be missed. But the way he died was sad, pathetic and wrong," said the president of the Council of Europe, Lord Russell-Johnston.
"It demonstrated the futility of capital punishment to act as a deterrent, giving him the notoriety he sought in committing this horrendous crime.
"It is high time the United States rethought its attitude to the death penalty and aligned its position with the great majority of the free and democratic world," he said.
Last week the 43-member Council of Europe put pressure on the US to abolish capital punishment, hinting that Washington could lose its observer status in the organisation if no progress was made on the issue by 2003.
While the Council of Europe harshly condemned the execution, there was no immediate reaction from European governments. However, McVeigh's execution had particularly strong resonance in Spain, where Mr Bush is due to arrive this morning on the first stop of his European tour.
Mr Joaquin Martinez (30), a Spaniard who was convicted and then cleared of double murder in the US, returned home on Sunday after spending three years on death row in Florida.
Mr Martinez's ordeal sparked public outrage in Spain, which is still haunted by memories of thousands of summary executions carried out under the Franco regime.
Amnesty International also criticised McVeigh's execution as a triumph of vengeance over justice. Amnesty said the execution showed "a failure of human rights leadership in the highest levels of government in the US".
Pope John Paul II had joined with human rights groups in appealing in vain for President Bush to spare McVeigh's life.
Turkish rights activists condemned the execution and called on the US to respect human rights. However, police prevented members of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) from gathering in front of the US consulate in Istanbul.