Saddam due back in court after chaotic hearing

BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein's genocide trial resumes on Monday after chaos reigned at the last session two weeks ago, when he was repeatedly ejected from the courtroom and his lawyers walked out over the sacking of the chief judge.

Legal rights groups have said the dismissal of Abdullah al-Amiri - removed by the government for saying Saddam was "not a dictator" - could hurt the trial's credibility.

Saddam's defence team are boycotting the trial in protest at the appointment of new chief judge Mohammed al-Ureybi. Court-appointed lawyers are now defending the former Iraqi leader and his six co-defendants.

Saddam, 69, his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as "Chemical Ali", and five former commanders face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in the 1988 Anfal campaign (or Spoils of War) that prosecutors say left 182,000 ethnic Kurds dead or missing.

Saddam and Majeed also face a charge of genocide. All face the death penalty. Saddam is waiting for a verdict from a first trial, for crimes against humanity in the killing of some 148 Shi'ite men from the town of Dujail in the 1980s.

The Anfal trial has featured moving testimony from villagers recounting their suffering during Anfal, when Saddam's forces attacked Kurds, razing villages and killing and displacing thousands of people.

Defendants have argued the attacks were legitimate military strikes against Iraqi Kurds fighting alongside Shi'ite Iran against Saddam's Sunni-led government during the Iraq-Iran war.

The court trying Saddam for the Dujail deaths - whose first chief judge quit, citing political interference - is due to reconvene on October 16 to review witness testimonies.

A senior source in the court has told Reuters a verdict in that case is expected to be announced within days of the session opening.

- REUTERS