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Saddam lashes out at US as trial resumes
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-29 07:13

Saddam began with a verse from the Muslim holy book that reminds believers who aspire for heaven that God knows who actually participated in jihad, or holy war.

He then complained that he had to walk up four flights of stairs in shackles and accompanied by "foreign guards" because the elevator was not working.

The chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, said he would tell the police not to let that happen again.

"You are the chief judge," Saddam snapped back, speaking like a president to a subordinate. "I don't want you to tell them. I want you to order them. They are in our country. You have the sovereignty. You are Iraqi and they are foreigners and occupiers. They are invaders. You should order them."

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein listens to Presiding Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin as his trial resumes in Baghdad November 28, 2005.
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein listens to Presiding Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin as his trial resumes in Baghdad November 28, 2005.[Reuters]
Saddam also complained that some of his papers had been taken from him.

"How can a defendant defend himself if his pen was taken? Saddam Hussein's pen and papers were taken. I don't mean a white paper. There are papers downstairs that include my remarks in which I express my opinion," he said.

Amin ordered bailiffs to give Saddam pen and paper.

The tribunal allowed Clark and prominent lawyers from Qatar and Jordan to joined the defense team as advisers, a move aimed at convincing foreign human rights groups that the trial would meet international standards of fairness.

Also, the chief judge ordered all handcuffs and shackles removed from the defendants before they entered the courtroom — another gesture toward the accused.

The defendants stand accused of killing more than 140 Shiite Muslims after an assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail in 1982. Convictions could bring a sentence of death by hanging.

None of the nearly 35 prosecution witnesses testified Monday, but the prosecution entered into evidence two videotapes — one shot in the aftermath of the assassination attempt showing Saddam in military uniform interrogating three villagers. The second was a videotaped statement by former intelligence officer Wadah Israel al-Sheik made last month shortly before he died of cancer.

Amin read the transcript as the tape played without sound. According to the transcript, al-Sheik, who appeared frail and sat in a wheelchair in a U.S.-controlled hospital, said about 400 people were detained after the assassination attempt, although he estimated only seven to 12 gunmen actively participated in the ambush of Saddam's convoy.

"I don't know why so many people were arrested," al-Sheik said, adding that Ibrahim, head of intelligence at the time, "was the one directly giving the orders."
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