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BAGHDAD, Oct 18 (AFP): Once feared by many, still loved by some, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein gets his day in court Wednesday in the first of what is likely to be several trials on atrocities he allegedly committed during his decades in power.
The much-anticipated trial begins amid high security and a veil of secrecy just four days after the country held a largely peaceful referendum on a proposal for a new constitution.
The vote, the second since Saddam was toppled by a US-led invasion in March 2003, is widely expected to approve the charter, though election officials say the complete results will not be known for several days because of "anomalies".
Yet it remains unclear if Saddam's trial will help push Iraq's nascent democracy forward or deepen the sectarian divide between the Sunni Arabs -- favored during his regime -- and the country's Kurds and majority Shiite communities.
Other charges that Saddam, now 68, is likely to face include the gassing of 5,000 people in the Kurdish village of Halabja in March 1988; the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, during which around one million people were killed; the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and the violent suppression of a Shiite uprising the following year.
These high-profile cases however have been put aside for an otherwise obscure case: the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the Shiite village of Dujail, allegedly as revenge for an attempt on his life.
Saddam is charged along with three former top lieutenants and four local Baath party officials. All face the death penalty if found guilty.
It will make history for the region -- the first time an Arab leader goes on trial for crimes against his own people.
After months on the run, US soldiers acting on a tip-off captured Saddam hiding in a narrow hole outside a dilapidated farmhouse in December 2003. The former dictator carried a pistol, but surrendered without a fight.
Images of a bearded, exhausted Saddam having his teeth checked by a US military medic soon flashed on television screens across the world.
At a pre-trial hearing in July 2004, Saddam who ruled with an iron fist as president since 1979 and effectively run Iraq as the power behind the throne after his Baath came to power in 1968 appeared defiant and combative.
He challenged the legality of the court set up under US occupation.
Meanwhile: Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath party called for its supporters in Iraq to step up attacks on US and Iraqi forces to mark the start of his trial on Wednesday, according to an Internet statement.
"Salute the leader once he makes a public appearance at the trial by firing bullets and mortars of death at the occupier, its men, equipment and bases, as well as agents in the army and the symbols of treason," it said.
The statement, whose authenticity could not be verified, was addressed to the "Baathist resistance", "resistance fighters," and the "Fedayeen ('men of sacrifice') of Saddam Hussein".
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