Saddam Returns to Court in Baghdad
05 April 2006
The trial of Saddam Hussein has resumed in Baghdad. The former Iraqi dictator is answering questions about the killing of more than 140 Shi'ite Muslims in 1982.
Saddam is the only defendant present in court for Wednesday's cross-examination.
Saddam lashed out at the Shi'ite dominated Iraqi Interior Ministry. He accuses it of torturing and killing thousands of people.
He also demanded an international body examine signatures alleged to be his on documents the prosecution has presented as evidence. Prosecutors say the documents are Saddam's orders that resulted in the killings of Shi'ites in the village of Dujail in southern Iraq.
Saddam has admitted giving the orders. But he says his actions were not a crime since a judge had found all of the villagers guilty of plotting to assassinate him.
Saddam and his seven co-defendants could be hanged if convicted in the Dujail case.
Prosecutors say they also are filing additional charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against Saddam and all but one of his cohorts. Those charges are based on a campaign aimed at Iraq's Kurdish minorities during the 1980s that killed about 180,000 people.
Saddam and his associates will face a separate trial on the additional charges.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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