Defiant Saddam

A defiant Saddam Hussein refused to give his name and challenged the legitimacy of the court, and then pleaded "not guilty" as he went on trial on Wednesday for crimes against humanity allegedly committed two decades ago.

Grey-bearded and wearing a dark jacket over an open-necked white shirt, Saddam hectored the chief judge from his seat inside a white metal pen on the marble courtroom floor.

Asked his name by the judge, Saddam, 68, shot back: "You know me. You are an Iraqi and you know who I am. I won't answer to this so-called court...Who are you? What are you? The occupation is illegitimate," Saddam said. "I retain my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq."

The judge said: "You are Saddam Hussein al-Majid...former president of Iraq," at which point Saddam raised his finger to interrupt, saying testily: "I did not say former president."

Shortly afterwards, the judge informed the defendants that the charges included murder, torture and forced expulsion, saying that the crimes could carry the death penalty, and informed them of their rights, including that of a fair trial.

Asked to plead, each in turn, Saddam first, said: "Not guilty." Saddam was the last to enter the courtroom as proceedings began shortly after midday and asked the jailers escorting him to slow down as he walked to his spot facing the panel of five judges. He carried an old copy of the Quran.

Chief judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd, presided from a raised dais looking down on the defendants. Bronze-coloured scales of justice hung behind the judges. Of the judges, only Amin's face was shown on TV, and he conducted all questioning.

"This is the first session of case number one, the case of Dujail," Amin told the court at the start, referring to the town where bloody reprisals against more than 140 Shia Muslim men followed an attempt on Saddam's life on July 8, 1982.

The session was stormy, with Saddam arguing with judges. When a break was called, Saddam stood, smiling, asked to step of the room, but when two guards tried to grab his arms to escort him out, he angrily shook them off.

They tried to grab him again, and Saddam struggled to get free, being shaken during a shoving match that lasted about a minute as they yelled at each other. It ended with Saddam getting his way, and he was allowed to walk independently, with the two guards behind him, out of the room for the break. He did not appear harmed.

The panel of five judges will both hear the case and render a verdict in what could be the first of several trials of Saddam for atrocities during his 23-year-rule.

The trial was adjourned shortly for more than a month after it began on Wednesday, prosecutors told reporters. "It has been adjourned until November 28," one of the prosecutors said.

An adjournment had been widely expected. Saddam's lawyer had said he would ask for the trial to be adjourned, arguing he had insufficient time to prepare.

Nearly two years after he was found hiding in a hole in the ground near where he was born, Saddam and seven other members of his now-defunct Baath Party are now on trial for those events.

Prosecutors will try to show that Saddam ordered his henchmen to hunt down, torture and kill scores of men from Dujail, on that July day and in the days, weeks and years that followed.

Saddam has been charged with crimes against humanity in connection with the deaths of more than 140 Shi'ite Muslim men after a group of young Shi'ites tried to assassinate him near Dujail, a town about 60 km (35 miles) north of Baghdad, in 1982.

Iraq's government, led by long-time enemies of Saddam and looking for popularity ahead of elections in December, hopes the trial will boost the morale of Iraqis struggling against the hardships of the insurgency 2-1/2 years after the war began.

Human rights groups have expressed unease about perceptions of "victor's justice", warning that the trial must not only be fair, but be seen to be fair, and raising concerns about the legitimacy of a body set up during US occupation.

* Asked his name by the judge, Saddam, 68, shot back: "You know me. You are an Iraqi and you know who I am.

* "I won't answer to this so-called court...Who are you? What are you? The occupation is illegitimate," Saddam said. "I retain my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq."

* The judge said: "You are Saddam Hussein al-Majid ... former president of Iraq", at which point Saddam raised his finger to interrupt, saying testily: "I did not say former president".

* Shortly afterwards, the judge informed the defendants that the charges included murder, torture and forced expulsion, saying that the crimes could carry the death penalty, and informed them of their rights, including that of a fair trial.

* Asked to plead, each in turn, Saddam first, said: "Not guilty".