Saddam claims US tortured him

The 6th trial session of the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and several officials from the former regime was suspended on Wednesday on the ground it will be resumed today after the court listened to three witnesses in al-Dajil case in which Saddam Hussein is accused of killing scores, following an assassination attempt against him there.

After a morning session which witnessed a controversy between the first witness and the accused men, the second witness who was hiding behind the curtains and asked to be anonymous, a conduct pursued by the court before with other witnesses, narrated events he said he remembers over this incident.

The witness, which was clear from his voice that he is an elderly, said that four of his children were killed in that incident and that he was jailed in three places, one of them in the desert for three and a half years and another in the intelligence in addition to Abu Ghreib jail, and that he was tortured during his investigation.

The witness complained against Saddam Hussein, Barazan al-Takriti, Awad al-Bander, Taha Yasssin Ramadan and as for the latter ( Yassin Ramadan), the judge asked him why he filed the case against Ramadan and the witness said he had leveled farms.

The defendant asked the witness if he saw the assassination attempt on Saddam. He denied knowing about that and of hearing of it, adding he himself saw no one killed.

The witness indicated that one of his children was killed, but he does not know how and where he was killed, and when the defendant was asked about the kind of weapons his son was killed by, he said it is bullets and shelling.

The court also listened to a third witness who also talked from behind the curtains and accused Saddam and his aides of torturing him, but he admitted that had no link to the assassination attempt of Saddam Hussein in al-Dajil, rather because of his being a member in the ( then) banned Shiite al-Dawa party.

Former chief of the Iraqi intelligence Barazan al-Tikriti renewed his assertion that the intelligence department had no role in the Iraqi internal affairs, but in the Arab and international affairs section, adding that the general security department was responsible for internal affairs, while the military intelligence was responsible for army affairs only.

Barazan al-Tikriti said "we are politicians and not criminals and that this court case relates to legitimizing action for a party working for the interest of one country in a state of war with Iraq." He also opposed a question raised by the judge on replying to the complain of one of the witnesses and considered that as a provocation against the accused men.

Saddam Hussein questioned on the reason that the witnesses are only relatives for persons damaged by the incidents of al-Dajil, despite the fact that the city is small and its people know each other. He said that the reasons that there are children in the prison might be attributed to that they were accompanying their mothers or relatives, or to be targeted in the investigation. He demanded punishment for those who had bad conduct he said if the testimonies of the witnesses were true.

He also noted the need of end the trial and called on the court to respect the country by honoring the Iraqi women, commenting on a testimony made by one woman on whom Saddam said she insulted the Iraqi women because of her testimony. He also criticized the new constitution which was drawn by one American consultant, as he said

Saddam said that he was beaten and tortured in every part of his body by American investigators under what he called the American democracy.

The US denied what was stated by Hussein. This denial came in coincidence with statements by the spokesman for the US State Department, Sean McCormack earlier in which he described Saddam's statements as "highly ironic. But I know of nothing that would substantiate such a claim." The toppled Iraqi president made a big surprise before the court when he announced that he was beaten, and that the results of that are evident on every part of his body, noting that many of his "comrades" were beaten by pistols on their heads.