Drama appears to trump procedure in Saddam trial

The sparring by Saddam, his defence team, prosecutors and the judge, which ranged well beyond the scope of the case, marked another day in which drama for a televised audience appeared to trump jurisprudence at the trial.

Saddam presented a spirited though rambling defence of his orders to execute Shi’ite Muslims from the village of Dujayl, and questioned the court’s legitimacy. He and seven co-defendants could face the death penalty on charges of crimes against humanity in the case, which involves the execution, detention, torture and banishment of hundreds from Dujayl, allegedly in retribution for an attempt on Saddam’s life in 1982.

Prosecutors hit Saddam with striking images: a videotape of the young dictator vowing to kill thousands of his enemies, years before the Dujayl massacre, and photographs of the 28 juveniles, one allegedly as young as 12, who were among those executed.

With a flood of news releases and media appearances, prosecutors on Wednesday earlier formally indicted Saddam on genocide charges related to the Anfal campaign, a series of attacks in the late 1980s that killed as many as 100,000 Kurds with chemical and conventional weapons, and pulverised ancient mountain villages.

Saddam listened to the evidence silently. But when it was his turn to talk, Hussein dodged around questions, made dramatic and politically charged comments and lambasted the court. ‘‘Your title and position are illegal and illegitimate,’’ Saddam told Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel Rahman. ‘‘How can you judge the president of Iraq who stood as a spear against all who plotted against Iraq?’’ The judge and the prosecutor appeared to be exasperated by Hussein’s monologues. —Borzou Daragah