Chaos mars Saddam trial
Ahmed Mohammed Hassem al-Dujaili showed no fear over worries for witnesses' security as he testified over the massacre of 148 people from the Shia village of Dujail in 1982, for which Saddam and seven ex-henchmen are on trial.
He was the first witness to appear in person at the court, which has previously held just two brief sessions after earlier adjournments and until now only heard videotape testimony from an official just before he died.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The proceedings had earlier been marked by chaos and extraordinary scenes when the defence team briefly walked out of the tribunal and the ousted Iraqi dictator shouted a tirade of impassioned abuse at the court.
The dispute -- over whether Saddam's foreign lawyers could address the court -- prompted a 90-minute recess of the tribunal to solve the problems until presiding judge Mohammed Rizkar Amin agreed to let them speak.
As Dujaili, a prominent member of the Shia Dawa party, gave his evidence, Saddam made various interruptions from the dock, before being quietened down by Amin.
Dujaili testified to the mass arrests of residents and the murder of his neighbours, giving names of those who were killed and listing those he recognised from Saddam's forces in the Salaheddin province village.
"A friend of mine... was tortured. He was actually killed in front of me and I saw that," Dujaili said.
"People who were arrested were taken to prison and most of them were killed there," he carried on.
"I saw corpses and bodies of our neighbours. They were martyred. Some of them we couldn't even recognise their bodies," said Dujaili.
Following the walkout by his lawyers, Saddam had made his most dramatic intervention yet standing up to shout at the top of his voice: "Long live Iraq. Long live the Arab nation. Long live Iraq."
Facing charges of crimes against humanity and torture, Saddam and his henchmen could all face the death penalty if found guilty. They have all pleaded not guilty.
Former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, who is representing Saddam, said the fairness of the trial was paramount and demanded better protection for all nine lawyers.
Referring to the dire security situation in Iraq, Clark said the trial had a fundamental role to play in either healing or dividing the troubled country.
"There is virtually no protection for the nine Iraqi lawyers and their families who are heroically here to try to protect truth and justice," he said.
Two defence lawyers have been murdered during the trial.
Former Qatari justice minister Najib Nuaimi, also a defence lawyer, insisted that the court examine its own legitimacy before proceeding with the substance of the trial.
"The charges against my client should be dealt with by an international court, if the charges as you put them are mass murder, an international criminal court should look into the charges. An international court is independent."
Officials close to the court are hoping that this time a full four days of hearings featuring 10 witnesses is possible before the court adjourns again in time for Iraq's parliamentary elections on December 15.
At least two more witnesses were due to appear Monday after Dujaili's testimony.
However only Dujaili and one other of the 10 witnesses have consented to appear in court and be filmed by television cameras relaying the trial to the world, a US official close to the tribunal has said.
Another six were to appear in court but without being filmed. The final two were expected to speak from behind a screen.
Dozens of Iraqis in his former hometown Tikrit demonstrated in support of Saddam, while a symbolic protest against him took place outside the Green Zone in Baghdad where the trial is taking place.
There, a tent housing 18 people who lost relatives to Saddam's regime, one from each of Iraq's provinces, has been set up. "We ask for the hanging of Saddam and his aides and we ask for an immediate trial," read the banners.
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