Saddam Trial Resumes, Co-defendant Denies Role in Killings
12 March 2006
Saddam Hussein's trial has resumed in the Iraqi capital, with the first of seven co-defendants denying under oath any involvement in the 1982 killings of 148 Shi'ites in a village north of Baghdad.
Mizhir Abdullah Ruwaid, a low-level member of Saddam's Baath party, denied any link to hand-written letters to police that prosecutors say show the defendant identifying people later killed in Dujail.
Sunday's court hearing is the first since March first, when Saddam told the court he was responsible for ordering trials for the Shi'ites in Dujail. Saddam insisted his order was not a crime, since the Shi'ites were suspected in a failed plot to assassinate him.
The trial resumed on a day when at least 11 people were killed in insurgent attacks across Baghdad.
Authorities say a roadside bomb that targeted a police patrol killed six people on a busy street in Baghdad.
Separately, insurgents fired on a car, killing its three occupants. A mortar shell struck a building in an eastern district, killing two people.
More than 20 people, including several Iraqi soldiers, were wounded in the various attacks.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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