Saddam: 'I ordered the trial of Shiites', trial adjourned until 12 March 1.3.2006

"It's the right of the state to re-own or compensate. So where is the crime?"

Saddam said he ordered the razing of the farms because there had been an attempt on his life as his motorcade drove through the town during a visit in July 1982.

Describing how gunmen fired machineguns on his vehicle, he said: "I saw the bullets with my own eyes, I was sitting on the right side."

Saddam was mostly subdued as chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi laid out what he said was evidence linking Saddam to the Dujail case.

Following a week of sectarian violence that has killed hundreds and pitched Iraq toward civil war, Saddam used an opportunity to address the court to recall the unity of Iraqis in the war he waged against Iran in the 1980s.

A day after prosecutors presented what they said was a death warrant signed by Saddam for the 148 Shiites, Moussawi showed more papers on Wednesday, this time showing the condemned men's trial had been a farce, he said.

Moussawi also showed aerial pictures of fields laid waste around Dujail and played an audiotape of Saddam in discussion with a Baath party official.

In previous proceedings, the judge has heard testimony from witnesses recounting how they were tortured by Saddam's aides.

If convicted, Saddam, 68, could face death by hanging.

Saddam, who challenged the authenticity of the documents, complained about the prosecutor's behaviour and the judge's disciplining of his half-brother and co-accused, Barzan al-Tikriti.

Today's session lasted about four hours before the judge adjourned the trial until March 12th.

Reuters

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