Hussein trial to resume Tuesday

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants is set to resume Tuesday after a nearly two-week recess.

The last session in mid-February featured more outbursts from Hussein and other defendants.

The deputy chief defense lawyer says the original defense team will attend Tuesday's session, ending a month-old walkout to protest court proceedings.

The trial often has been punctuated with verbal outbursts and legal wrangling that have seen Hussein's legal team boycott the case. They have called the proceedings illegal and biased.

Two defense lawyers have been killed, three of the five presiding judges have been replaced, and the court has taken six breaks, twice for more than a month.

Defense lawyers had told news agencies in mid-February that Hussein and his co-defendants planned to continue their boycott of the proceedings as long as Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman remained the chief judge.

Abdel-Rahman, who took over last month after his predecessor stepped down, has tried to clamp down on courtroom disruptions. (Full story)

Defense attorneys claim that Abdel-Rahman is unfit to try the case because he was sentenced to life in absentia in the 1970s for anti-state activity, according to reports from The Associated Press.

Hussein and his seven co-defendants have been on trial since last October. They face charges in the killings of more than 140 males in the town of Dujail in 1982. The killings occurred after an assassination attempt on Hussein, Iraq's leader at the time.

Hussein's chief lawyer says his client has ended a hunger strike he began earlier this month to protest the conduct of his trial, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Prosecutors are expected to read documents from Hussein's time in power that allegedly link him to the assault against the town of Dujail, the AP reported.