The turbulent trial of Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants resumed in chaos today as the eight accused were frogmarched, screaming, into court - to be confronted with key witnesses who refused to testify.
“This is not a court, this is a game,” roared Saddam - wearing a black coat over a traditional galabeya rather than his usual tailored suit - as he was led into the wooden pen in the centre of the fortified Baghdad court room.
“Down with Bush... down with traitors... long live the ummah [Islamic nation],” he chanted.
Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother and former head of the Iraqi secret service, struggled with the court guards before sitting on the floor, his back turned to the judge. Mr al-Tikriti claims that he is being refused treatment for cancer. “I am dying gradually and you are killing me,” he complained.
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Lawyers for the eight defendants last month agreed to boycott the stop-start trial until a replacement was found for chief judge Rauf Rashid Abdel-Rahmani, who is believed to have lost several relatives to a Saddam-backed gas attack on his home town of Halabja in 1988.
The eight defendants have since refused to accept the defence lawyers appointed by the court as substitutes. Tirades and shouted arguments continued for around 30 minutes before order was restored and formal proceedings continued.
The Kurdish judge made clear that his patience had run out, and cut Saddam off when he asked for another chance to speak.
“I’ve given you enough chances,” Abdel Rahman replied, to anger from Saddam, who shouted: “God damn your moustaches.”
In the past four months the court has sat for little more than seven full days. There is growing impatience among the ruling Shia Muslim community for retribution against Saddam and his inner-circle.
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Twenty-six prosecution witnesses have testified, many providing graphic accounts of torture and imprisonment in the wake of an assassination attempt on Saddam in the village of Dujail in 1982. None has directly linked Saddam to their ordeal, in which almost 150 Shias died.
Prosecutors are now trying to join the dots, using evidence from insiders to establish a clear chain of command from the security officials who carried out the torture and killings up to the former dictator and his closest aides.
It appeared this morning, however, that at least two of those witnesses were reluctant to appear and also had to be forcibly led into the court.
“I was brought here by force and I refuse to testify,” Ahmed Khudayir, the former chief of foreign intelligence, said. “I did not accept to be a witness.”
Mr Khudayir, who was the head of Saddam’s presidential office from 1984 to 1991 and then again from 1995 until the fall of the regime in April 2003, later insisted he knew nothing about the events in Dujail. He said that he had been blindfolded, handcuffed and forced to attend court. He said that he was the minister for youth and sports at the time of the massacre.
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“I am not fit to be a witness in this case,” he told the court and brought a smile from Saddam when he insisted on referring to him as President.
Mr Khudayir’s appearance was followed by that of Hassan al-Obeidi, a former director of foreign intelligence, who said that he had been away on a course at the time of the assassination attempt and subsequent massacre.
“This morning I told the Americans I have no testimony but they said they had to bring me,” he told the court. He said he was studying for a doctorate in law from 1983 until 1988 and did not hold senior positions in intelligence until later.
The defence team originally acting for the eight accused have submitted a formal motion for the removal of Judge Abdel-Rahman, citing the life sentence he was handed in absentia in the 1970s for “anti-state activity”.
The high-profile trial has frequently descended into confusion, with sessions featuring long outbursts or walkouts by the defendants and their counsel as well as the killing of two defence lawyers.
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There are competing calls for the sessions to either be moved to another, safer, location or for Saddam and his co-defendants to face summary punishment of death by hanging.
The Iraqi High Tribunal is at a crossroads,” said Richard Dicker, director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Programme.