The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven others accused of crimes against humanity resumed in Baghdad today.
The eight men are accused of bloody reprisals in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad that followed a failed assassination bid against Saddam there in 1982. If convicted, they face possible death by hanging.
Defence witnesses, initially for some of the lesser-known defendants, started testifying when the trial, which began in October, resumed on May 15th after a three-week recess following the completion of the prosecution case.
At the last session on May 24th, former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz took the stand in his first public appearance in three years and said the court should try Iraq's current leaders for attacks against the state in the 1980s.
All the defendants have pleaded not guilty, or like Saddam, were ruled to have so pleaded after contesting the US-backed court's legitimacy.
Saddam's co-accused include his half-brother and ex-intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al- Tikriti, as well as four former local officials of Saddam's Baath Party in Dujail.