Saddam goes on trial for 1982 massacre
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-19 19:11

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein went on trial Wednesday for a massacre of his fellow Iraqis, turning immediately argumentative and challenging the legitimacy of the court trying him two years after his capture for the killings of 150 Shiites.

Saddam Hussein addresses the judges at his trial held under tight security in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone in Iraq Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005. He and other men face charges that they ordered the killing in 1982 of nearly 150 people in the mainly Shiite village of Dujail north of Baghdad after a failed attempt on the former dictator's life. [AP]

When the trial began, the 68-year-old ousted Iraqi leader — looking thin with a salt-and-pepper beard in a dark gray suit and open-collared white shirt — stood and asked the presiding judge: "Who are you? I want to know who you are."

"I preserve my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq," Saddam said. "I do not recognize the body that has authorized you and I don't recognize this aggression. What is based on injustice is unjust ... I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect."

The presiding judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd, tried to get Saddam to formally identify himself, but Saddam refused. After several moments, he sat down.

Amin later read the charges, which are the same for all the defendants, and told them they face possible execution if convicted. The panel of five judges will both hear the case and render a verdict in what could be the first of several trials of Saddam for atrocities carried out during his 23-year-rule.

Saddam faces charges in a 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiites that could carry the death penalty if he is convicted. The former leader and his seven co-defendants were seated in three rows of black chairs, partitioned behind a low white metal barrier, in the center of the court directly in front of the judges bench.