The trial of Saddam
Hussein and seven others has been adjourned for
seven days to allow the defendants to replace two
lawyers murdered in recent weeks.
Most of the defence team did not carry out a threat
to boycott the trial, after receiving security
guarantees.
As the case resumed, the court heard video evidence
from its first witness - a deceased Iraqi
intelligence officer.
Saddam Hussein complained to the judge about his
treatment. The defendants all deny charges of murder
and torture.
The charges concern the alleged massacre of 148
people, mostly men, in the largely Shia town of
Dujail, some 60km (35 miles) north of Baghdad, in
1982. |
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP
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The killings followed a failed assassination attempt
against the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.
The first witness in the trial was Wadah Ismael
al-Sheik, an Iraqi intelligence officer sent to
Dujail to investigate the assassination attempt.
In his testimony, taped before his recent death from
cancer, Mr Sheikh said about 400 people were
detained after the ambush, which was estimated to
have been carried out by between seven and 12
assailants.
He said whole families were rounded up and taken to
Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, and another detention
centre further south.
He also said former Vice-President Taha Yassin
Ramadan - also on trial - ordered Dujail's
agricultural orchards to be destroyed, as that is
where the attempted assassins had hidden.
Argument
Saddam Hussein made a defiant appearance in court,
complaining that he had to climb four floors to the
courtroom because the lift was broken, and objecting
to being escorted up the stairs by "foreign guards".
He also argued with the judge, accusing him of
giving up sovereignty to "foreigners, invaders, and
occupiers".
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in the courthouse, says Saddam
Hussein appeared determined to stamp his authority
on the proceedings.
Another defendant, Awad Hamad al-Bandar, a former
judge accused of ordering the deaths of many people
in Dujail, complained that he and Saddam Hussein had
been the subject of death threats in the court.
Meanwhile Mr Ramadan, Saddam Hussein's half brother,
complained he had not received proper medical
treatment since being diagnosed with cancer and that
this amounted to "indirect murder".
Growing support
As the trial resumed, after a gap of several weeks
since it began in October, there were demonstrations
both in Dujail and in Saddam Hussein's home town of
Tikrit.
In Dujail people called for the former president to
be put to death.
"We ask for the execution of the infidel Saddam and
his corrupted followers," said a banner carried by
protesters.
Meanwhile a crowd of people marched to the village
of Awja, Saddam Hussein's birthplace, from the Sunni
town of Tikrit, holding photographs of the former
leader and chanting "Yes! Yes! to Saddam."
The BBC's John Simpson says the former president
seems to have his eyes on martyrdom, and that with
his defiance in court, even those Sunni Muslims who
did not support him when he was in power, tend now
to regard him with some sentiment and warmth.
Also in court on Monday, seated alongside the
defence team, was former US attorney general Ramsey
Clark, an outspoken critic of the trial.
Mr Clark, 77, later told the BBC that the trial
could not proceed when there was no adequate
protection for defence lawyers and witnesses.
On 8 November two defence lawyers were shot in their
car - one died. On 20 October one of their
colleagues had been abducted from his office and was
later found dead.
www.bbc.co.uk
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