Saddam's handwriting scrutinised in court

A criminal expert's report was read out in court which said Saddam's signatures were on documents connecting him with the killing of 148 Shia men and teenagers after an attempt on his life in the town of Dujail in 1982.

Saddam has said he ordered the trial which led to the execution of the men, saying that any president who escaped an assassination attempt was entitled to crack down.

But Saddam and his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti have refused to give the Iraqi tribunal in Baghdad a sample of their handwriting.