OMEN
03-16-2006, 12:03 AM
OUSTED Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein denounced his trial in Baghdad as a "comedy" in his first formal testimony overnight and called on Iraqis to resist the US-led occupation, prompting the judge to order a closed session.
"I call on the people to start resisting the invaders instead of killing each other," he told the Iraqi High Tribunal, which is trying Saddam and seven co-defendants over a massacre of Shiites in the 1980s.
He also called those who destroy mosques "criminals" - a reference to the spasm of violence rocking Iraq since the destruction of a Shiite shrine in Samarra on February 22.
"My people will never accept the occupation, it is my people who elected me in a referendum and who trusted me to lead them to safe harbour and I say to my people I remain faithful to them despite the injustices of which I am a victim," Saddam said.
The trial was later adjourned for three weeks to April 5.
Saddam took the stand wearing his trademark tailored dark suit without a tie, following a rambling testimony by half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, and said he was speaking as "the president of the republic and the commander in chief of the armed forces".
"Your rule has ended, now you are a defendant in a criminal case," chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman told him. "This is a criminal court, we are not interested in politics."
"As far as I am concerned, I take my responsibilities to the people seriously, until such a time as the people choose someone else to represent them," Saddam answered.
"It is a comedy against Saddam Hussein and his comrades," he said at the start of his testimony.
"Oh mighty people, I am still your faithful son, oh Iraqi people ... I am still your sword, and despite what has happened to my people, to me, to my comrades because of the criminal occupants, I shall be patient," he said.
New.au
"I call on the people to start resisting the invaders instead of killing each other," he told the Iraqi High Tribunal, which is trying Saddam and seven co-defendants over a massacre of Shiites in the 1980s.
He also called those who destroy mosques "criminals" - a reference to the spasm of violence rocking Iraq since the destruction of a Shiite shrine in Samarra on February 22.
"My people will never accept the occupation, it is my people who elected me in a referendum and who trusted me to lead them to safe harbour and I say to my people I remain faithful to them despite the injustices of which I am a victim," Saddam said.
The trial was later adjourned for three weeks to April 5.
Saddam took the stand wearing his trademark tailored dark suit without a tie, following a rambling testimony by half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, and said he was speaking as "the president of the republic and the commander in chief of the armed forces".
"Your rule has ended, now you are a defendant in a criminal case," chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman told him. "This is a criminal court, we are not interested in politics."
"As far as I am concerned, I take my responsibilities to the people seriously, until such a time as the people choose someone else to represent them," Saddam answered.
"It is a comedy against Saddam Hussein and his comrades," he said at the start of his testimony.
"Oh mighty people, I am still your faithful son, oh Iraqi people ... I am still your sword, and despite what has happened to my people, to me, to my comrades because of the criminal occupants, I shall be patient," he said.
New.au