Former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz took the stand to testify for ousted president Saddam Hussein today.
Mr Aziz, the first defence witness for Saddam at his trial for crimes against humanity, was once the international public face of the toppled leader's regime and one of his closest aides.
Mr Aziz, whose family earlier this year said he was seriously ill, looked tired as he testified in the courtroom in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone where Saddam and his seven co- defendants are standing trial.
Mr Aziz is not among those accused.
Seeking to turn the tables in the trial that got under way in October, Mr Aziz said current government officials should be in the dock instead, accusing one of the now ruling Shia parties of having tried to kill him and Saddam in the 1980s.
"I was exposed to an assassination attempt by a political party," he told the court. "I am a victim of criminal acts by a party presently in power. Try them."
Mr Aziz was number 43 on the US most wanted list of Iraqi officials when he gave himself up to US forces in April 2003 just two weeks after Saddam's government fell.
At the previous trial session on Monday, one of the former president's half-brothers gave testimony for Saddam's former intelligence chief. All the eight defendants, including Saddam, were present when today's session got under way.
They are accused of bloody reprisals, including the killings of 148 men and teenagers, in the Shi'ite town of Dujail after a failed assassination bid on Saddam in 1982.