IRAQ: Saddam Hussein was ejected from his genocide trial for the third consecutive day yesterday, and this time his six co-defendants were all sent out after him, as chaos reigned after last week's sacking of the chief judge.
Iraqis were treated to the televised spectacle of their former rulers shouting and gesturing as new chief judge Mohammed al- Ureybi failed to silence the defendants.
International legal rights groups have said the sacking of the former chief judge - removed by the government last week for saying Saddam was "not a dictator" - could hurt the trial's credibility.
Mr al-Ureybi, who had thrown Saddam out of both previous hearings he chaired since taking over last week, opened Tuesday's hearing with a lecture to Saddam to behave.But after two Kurdish witnesses, Saddam again began to argue and the judge lost his patience.
"You are a defendant and I'm a judge," Mr al-Ureybi said. "Shut up, no one talk . . . The court has decided to eject Saddam Hussein from court."
As Saddam left smiling, his six co-defendants stood and tried to follow him out. The judge shouted back: "Get Saddam out and put the others back in their seats." Several co-defendants started shouting and pointing fingers at the judge.
Unusually, the sound was left on for television broadcasts, allowing all Iraqis to watch and listen during several minutes of courtroom pandemonium.
Saddam and the six others could face hanging over the deaths of an estimated 180,000 Kurdish villagers in 1988, including thousands killed by poison gas.
A verdict is due next month in an earlier trial, which began last October, over the deaths of 148 Shia men from the town of Dujail. The first chief judge in that trial quit.