Saddam Hussein trial: Saddam Hussein and four co-accused refused to show up in court yesterday, along with their defence team, in protest against the new chief judge, plunging their trial deeper into chaos.
Raouf Abdel Rahman said he would go ahead without them. Court-appointed lawyers replaced Saddam's team in proceedings that have been dominated by the toppled Iraqi leader's tirades.
"Despite my personal efforts with the defendants to have them present, they refused," said chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Musawi, who urged the judge to force the defendants to attend.
The trial was adjourned until today after testimony from five prosecution witnesses, all of whom spoke from behind a curtain to hide their identities.
"Inside the intelligence building they hung me by my feet from the ceiling and I was naked," said one woman, who directly implicated Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, his former head of intelligence.
"They beat me and used electric shock on me. Barzan hit me on the chest and broke my ribs and the marks are still clear."
Saddam's legal team accuse Judge Rahman of bias and rushing to hand down a sentence and say they will not return until the judge resigns. Saddam faces hanging if he is found guilty of crimes against humanity.
The judge is from the Kurdish town of Halabja, where 5,000 people, including some of his relatives, were gassed to death by Saddam's army in 1988. Saddam says Halabja was attacked because it was overrun by Iranian forces in a war between the two countries.
Judge Rahman has taken a personal interest in helping Halabja heal, forming committees to help its distraught residents recover. Some observers wonder if a Kurdish judge can show impartiality in trying Saddam, who is accused of ordering the killing of many thousands of Kurds.
"We cannot attend any trial session unless the chief judge resigns, because he holds a personal grudge against my client," Saddam's chief counsel, Khalil al-Dulaimi, told reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman before the hearing began.
Judge Rahman, who has infuriated Saddam and his defence team with his stern approach, is trying to take control of a trial marred by delays since getting under way last October.
Two members of the defence team have been murdered, former chief judge Rizgar Amin resigned complaining of government interference, and his original replacement was shifted aside after being accused of belonging to Saddam's Baath party.
Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed yesterday when a suicide bomber strapped with explosives attacked a crowd of labourers in central Baghdad.
At least 65 people were wounded. - (Reuters)