Saddam Hussein trial adjourned until June 12

The trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and seven of his co-defendants has been adjourned to June 12 following Monday's session in a Baghdad court.

Chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman began the 32nd session with hearing two testimonies of defense witnesses for Saddam's co- defendant Ali Daiyh Ali, a former Baath party official.

Rahman said that the court would only hear the two witnesses, who would speak from behind a curtain, as the rest of the defense witnesses were absent.

The chief judge said that 57 defense witnesses have appeared in the court to date, 19 of whom took the stand for Saddam Hussein.

About two hours later, Rahman ordered the court adjourned until next Monday after hearing two witnesses, telling the defense team that they should present their list of defense witnesses two days before the coming court session.

The first witness who was a government employee in Dujail in 1982 provided an alibi for Daiyh, saying that Daiyh was a student of a postgraduate study in Baghdad and was not at the town during the town events.

He said that two names in the list of the 148 people allegedly executed by Saddam's regime in the 1980s are not true, because one of them died in battlefront with Iran six months after the Dujail assassination.

The second name was for a man died in 1981 -- before the Dujail events, he said, adding that the name was inserted in the list, which indicated that the list was fabricated.

The second witness was Daiyh's wife, who said that her husband was not a senior official of the Baath party or with the government and he had nothing to do with the detention of Dujail countrymen.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants are indicted for charges of crimes against humanity, including the Dujail killing.

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

Source: Xinhua