IRAQ: Witnesses in the trial of Saddam Hussein, testifying from behind a curtain out of fear for their lives, described yesterday how they were randomly arrested and tortured after an attempt to kill the former president in the 1980s.
Saddam, facing hanging on charges of crimes against humanity, was mostly quiet during testimony but told his judges at the end of the session to "go to hell" and appeared to threaten not to attend future hearings. These are set to continue today.
The first woman to give evidence yesterday, identified only as Witness A, broke down in tears as she told the small, marbled Baghdad courtroom how Iraqi prison guards forced her to strip naked, gave her electric shocks and beat her with cables.
Witness B, a woman in her 70s, said she, her husband, five daughters and two sons were imprisoned following the attempted assassination in the Shia town of Dujail in 1982.
Out of fear of their former president and his supporters, both women witnesses spoke through a computerised voice modifier to protect their identities from Saddam, his seven co-defendants and millions watching on television.
At first, Saddam, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, listened impassively but later lost his temper, thumping his desk, gesticulating and wagging a finger at the judge.
He lambasted the Americans, saying they had come to Iraq to stay as long as possible and to create the "theatre" of his trial. He said they and Jewish "Zionists" wanted to kill him.
"I have been sentenced to execution three times. This is not the first time," said the 68-year-old, who was sentenced in absentia after trying to shoot Iraq's then leader in 1959.
"I will not attend an unfair trial," he shouted as the judges left at the end of the session. "Go to hell!" As the hearing unfolded, a third witness, a man whose identity was also withheld, said he was only 11 when he and his father were seized and imprisoned the day after the failed plot.
"My charge is against Saddam because his visit to Dujail, and what happened, is the reason why we went to jail and suffered and lost lots of people," he said.
However, when cross-examined by Saddam's defence lawyer, he acknowledged he had not seen the former president kill anyone.
"Did you see [ Saddam] commit crimes against humanity in front of your eyes," defence lawyer Najeeb al-Nuaimi asked.
"No," the witness replied.
The trial has rekindled painful memories for many Iraqis just nine days before they vote for their first full-term parliament since Saddam's downfall in 2003.
When it resumes today, the trial is due to hear two more witnesses. Officials expect the judge to then adjourn again, halting hearings over the election period.
For many in the Shia majority and among ethnic Kurds, the widely televised trial addresses a longing for retribution. But others share Saddam's contention that the US-funded court is staging a show trial.
Prosecutors decided to charge Saddam over the relatively obscure killings of 148 men from Dujail rather than over some of the bloodier and more notorious atrocities of his 30-year rule, partly because they hoped a conviction would be easier.
But after four trial sessions, there are doubts among some observers about the strength of the case.
The UN's human rights chief in Iraq says he sees little prospect of the trial meeting international standards.
Saddam and one co-defendant complained to the judge yesterday about the conditions in which they are being held. Apparently they are close to the fortified courthouse in his former palace complex in central Baghdad, rather than the prison at the airport.
"We've spent days in the same shirts and underwear," Saddam said. "We can't take a bath or have a cigarette."