IRAQ: An investigative judge said yesterday that officials never saw evidence that Saddam Hussein was beaten in US custody, contradicting the ousted Iraqi leader's claims that he was abused and "the marks are still there".
US officials strongly denied Saddam's allegations as "completely unfounded". Saddam, in turn, denounced those denials as "lies". In a theatrical exchange, an assistant prosecutor asked to resign and the defence team threatened to walk out. Saddam also mocked President Bush's claims that Iraq had chemical weapons.
A total of five witnesses testified on Wednesday and yesterday about the alleged torture and killings after an assassination attempt against Saddam in the town of Dujail in 1982. The presiding judge then adjourned the case until January 24th.
Yesterday, Saddam said American denials that he was beaten could not be believed, noting that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq.
"The White House lied when it said Iraq had chemical weapons," Saddam said.
"I reported all the wounds I got to three medical committees . . . We are not lying - the White House is lying."
But Judge Raid al-Juhi, who prepared the case against Saddam and forwarded it to the trial court in July, told reporters that neither the defendants nor their lawyers had ever complained about beatings. Officials never saw signs of beatings, he said.
The first witness to testify yesterday said he was eight during the killings in Dujail. He said his grandmother, father and uncles had been arrested and tortured, and he never saw his male relatives again.
Saddam's half-brother and co-defendant - Barazan Ibrahim, who was head of the Iraqi intelligence services during the Dujail killings - had a heated exchange with prosecutors, accusing them of belonging to the Baath Party, Saddam's former party, in an effort to discredit them in the eyes of Iraqis.
One assistant prosecutor threatened to resign over Ibrahim's allegations, but the judge would not allow it.
"The biggest insult I've got in my life was being accused of being a member of this bloody Baath Party," the prosecutor said.
The judge at one point told Ibrahim to speed up his answer, and Ibrahim responded: "Don't oppress me. I passed through this experience in the past. During the interrogation I used to be asked questions that need one hour to answer and they wanted a 'yes' or 'no' answer. When I used to answer, he used to slap me in the face while my hands were tied from behind."
Defence attorneys said one of the court guards then made threatening gestures toward Ibrahim and said they would walk out if the guard did not leave. The judge had the guard removed.