SADDAM HUSSEIN has been forced to attend his trial on Monday, looking tired and wearing a robe rather than his usual black suit as he shouted “Down with BUSH. Long live the nation”.
The toppled Iraqi President and his seven co-defendants have boycott earlier sessions. The defense team also walked out of court earlier, demanding the removal of the new chief judge, Raouf Abdul Rahman, and accusing him of bias against SADDAM.
But the chief prosecutor asked the judge to bring SADDAM and the co-accused to the Baghdad court if necessary.
One correspondent says the prosecution knows that an empty dock will undermine a trial which had repeatedly descended into farce.
But he says that the defense team would argue that bringing the defendants by force proves that the judge is biased.
* “A game”
On entering the courtroom, SADDAM said: "They have forcibly brought me here."
He then told the judge: "Exercise your right to try me in absentia. Are you trying to overcome your own smallness?"
"Down with the traitor, down with traitors, down with BUSH. Long live the ummah (Islamic nation)... long live the ummah... long live the ummah," SADDAM shouted.
SADDAM’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, who was his former intelligence chief, scuffled with guards who led him into the courtroom by his arms.
Both men then continued to harangue the judge, refusing orders to sit down and be quiet.
"This is not a court, this is not a court, this is a game," SADDAM said. “Degradation and shame upon you, Raouf," he yelled. Later, he called the investigating judges "homosexuals."
In response, Judge Rahman said that the “law will be implemented.” He also denied that the defense team was thrown out of court, claiming that they had chosen not to attend the trial.
SADDAM and seven members of his former regime are standing trial over the 1982 Dujail massacre in which 148 people were killed. All the defendants deny the charges. If convicted they could face the death penalty.
After Monday’s stormy start, the judge put on the stand the former chief of foreign intelligence, Hassan al-Obeidi, and the former head of SADDAM’s presidential office, Ahmed Khudayir, who both blocked the prosecutors’ questions.
Khudayir said he was forced to testify, insisting that he knew nothing about the alleged massacre in Dujail. "I am not fit to be a witness in this case," he told the court.
The judge adjourned the trial until Tuesday.
The toppled Iraqi President and his seven co-defendants have boycott earlier sessions. The defense team also walked out of court earlier, demanding the removal of the new chief judge, Raouf Abdul Rahman, and accusing him of bias against SADDAM.
But the chief prosecutor asked the judge to bring SADDAM and the co-accused to the Baghdad court if necessary.
One correspondent says the prosecution knows that an empty dock will undermine a trial which had repeatedly descended into farce.
But he says that the defense team would argue that bringing the defendants by force proves that the judge is biased.
* “A game”
On entering the courtroom, SADDAM said: "They have forcibly brought me here."
He then told the judge: "Exercise your right to try me in absentia. Are you trying to overcome your own smallness?"
"Down with the traitor, down with traitors, down with BUSH. Long live the ummah (Islamic nation)... long live the ummah... long live the ummah," SADDAM shouted.
SADDAM’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, who was his former intelligence chief, scuffled with guards who led him into the courtroom by his arms.
Both men then continued to harangue the judge, refusing orders to sit down and be quiet.
"This is not a court, this is not a court, this is a game," SADDAM said. “Degradation and shame upon you, Raouf," he yelled. Later, he called the investigating judges "homosexuals."
In response, Judge Rahman said that the “law will be implemented.” He also denied that the defense team was thrown out of court, claiming that they had chosen not to attend the trial.
SADDAM and seven members of his former regime are standing trial over the 1982 Dujail massacre in which 148 people were killed. All the defendants deny the charges. If convicted they could face the death penalty.
After Monday’s stormy start, the judge put on the stand the former chief of foreign intelligence, Hassan al-Obeidi, and the former head of SADDAM’s presidential office, Ahmed Khudayir, who both blocked the prosecutors’ questions.
Khudayir said he was forced to testify, insisting that he knew nothing about the alleged massacre in Dujail. "I am not fit to be a witness in this case," he told the court.
The judge adjourned the trial until Tuesday.
