New Judge Ejects Saddam Again

Saddam Hussein returned to court briefly today before being ejected for the second time by the trial's new chief judge.

Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa ordered the former president out of the courtroom after he complained about the proceedings and said he wanted to leave.

"I have a request here that I don't want to be in this cage any more," Saddam said, referring to the metal dock.

Mr al-Khalifa said: "I'm the presiding judge. I decide about your presence here. Get him out."

"You need to show respect to the court and the case, and those who don't show it ... I'm sorry, but I have to apply the law."

Mr al-Khalifa threw the former dictator out of court on Thursday after an outburst in which Saddam claimed that the new judge's father had worked for the security services until 2003.

Today's argument began when one co-defendant, Sabri al-Douri, director of military intelligence under Saddam, referred to another co-defendant by his rank of lieutenant general.

The judge said the defendants could not be referred to by their former rank. Saddam then demanded to leave. The deposed Iraqi leader and six co-defendants are standing trial for genocide, and may face the death penalty if convicted.

The case relates to the Anfal, or Spoils of War, campaign by Iraqi forces in the Kurdish north in 1988. The prosecution alleges that Saddam's army used chemical weapons to kill 180,000 people during the campaign.

A decision by defence lawyers to boycott proceedings further marred the trial's resumption.

Saddam's nine-member defence team yesterday announced that it would not attend the hearing in protest over the replacement of the chief judge last week.

The Iraqi government fired Abdullah al-Amiri after he said Saddam was "not a dictator".

Despite the stormy start to the hearing, one witness was able to take the stand.

Mohammed Rasul Mustafa, 65, described the bombing of the northern Sawisaynan village in the late 1980s.

"I saw the smoke cover the village with my own eyes," he said.

He said that as he was travelling toward the village, he smelled a strange odour like "apples".

Mr Mustafa said he had turned around and fled the area along with village residents and those from other nearby towns. He said that when he returned home, he felt short of breath because of his alleged exposure to gas.

Eventually, he was captured and held in a prison before being transferred to a detention camp.

Mr Mustafa said that during his five-month imprisonment he had seen guards "kill a man with a steel cable", and that up to 500 people, most of them elderly, had died.