The trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants over charges against humanity resumed in a Baghdad court on Wednesday.

Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman permitted the playing of two DVDs presented by the defense team at the start of Wednesday's session, the 31st since the trial was launched last October.

One of the DVDs showed Saddam delivering a speech to people in the northern Iraqi village of Dujail, promising the residents to live in a better place after the government razed orchards there following a failed assassination attempt against Saddam near Dujail in 1982.

The prosecution team has accused Saddam of ordering the razing in retaliation for the attack.

The other DVD showed that a prosecution witness, who came from Dujail and testified against Saddam in early sessions, hailed the assassination attempt on Saddam's life during a rally in Dujail on July 8, 2004 to mark the failed attack which occurred on the same date in 1982.

The witness, however, testified in December that there was no armed attack on Saddam but only a celebrative shooting to honor Saddam's visit.

The footage also showed prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi attending the rally.

But al-Mussawi vehemently denied that the man in the video was him, which prompted Rahman to order a recess.

Saddam and his seven codefendants are indicted for crimes against humanity including the killing of 148 Shiite men in Dujail following the failed assassination attempt.

If convicted, Saddam and his aides might face death penalty.

Source: Xinhua