The trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and seven codefendants was adjourned until Wednesday.

"This trial will continue tomorrow, when we will hear two more witnesses," the presiding judge Rizkar Mohammed Amin said, after hearing five witnesses on Tuesday.

Saddam complained that he had no fresh clothes and had been deprived of shower and exercise facilities.

After hearing the judge said that the session would continue Wednesday, Saddam shouted, "I will not return. I will not come to an unjust court. Go to Hell."

All the defendants deny murder charges over the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in Dujail, north of Baghdad in 1982. The killing followed an attempt on Saddam Hussein's life.

They could face the death penalty if convicted.

Two women witnesses testified behind a screen and with voices disguised to protect their identities.

During her testimony, the woman, known as Witness A, said she had been forced to take off her clothes and hit with a pistol by a security agent after being detained in Dujail.

Afterwards, she said, she was held in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison for four years. Many of her relatives were also detained, the witness added.

On Monday, two men witnesses testified before court to give accounts of the 1982 killings.

Earlier on Monday, the trial had been suspended for more than an hour because of a walkout by defense lawyers disputing the legitimacy of the court and demanding extra security.

Two defense lawyers have been shot dead in recent weeks.

One defense lawyer, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, said that unless the trial was seen as "absolutely fair", it would "divide rather than reconcile Iraq".

The court proceeding resumed on Tuesday in the Green Zone in central Baghdad, after three adjournments since the trial started on Oct. 19.

Source: Xinhua