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BAGHDAD, Oct 19: Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein went on trial Wednesday on charges of crimes against humanity which could see him sentenced to death, report agencies.
Facing the first of what could be several cases over atrocities committed during his quarter-century in power, Saddam entered a Baghdad courtroom to begin the trial, official sources told AFP.
Security was tight at the grey marble courtroom in the heart of Baghdad's highly-fortified Green Zone, where Saddam and seven of his former henchmen face trial for the murder of 143 Shiite villagers from Dujail, north of the capital.
The panel of five judges, led by Kurdish magistrate Rizkar Mohammed Amin and sitting in front of large gold-coloured scales of justice, could sentence them to death penalty if convicted.
The defendants, including Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and a former director of the feared Mukhabarat intelligence service, and former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan, were to stand in steel-barred waist-high pens equipped with microphones.
"Trial of the Century" trumpeted the headline in Al-Bayan, the mouthpiece of the Shiite Dawa party of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari. "Iraqis will finally see their former dictator at the mercy of Iraqi justice."
Two mortar bombs landed in the Green Zone shortly before the trial, without causing any casualties, following calls by Saddam's supporters for attacks.
Saddam's lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi told AFP he met the former president on Tuesday evening and described his morale as "excellent."
"He ... is totally convinced of his innocence."
Dulaimi said he would ask for an adjournment of at least three months, adding: "All options are open, including adjournment, which is one of the defence's rights."
The case will make history in the region as it marks the first time an Arab leader is put on trial for crimes against his own people.
Armed US marshalls were patrolling outside the courthouse in a former Baath Party headquarters palace, while journalists covering the trial were subject to full-body ex-rays as well as usual checks.
Jaafari, whose brother and four cousins were executed during the old regime, said Iraqis would shed "no tears" for Saddam.
"I would like to see the trial take place and justice to be done and to be seen to be done," he was quoted by the Washington Times as saying.
"I do not rule out that there are groups who will use this opportunity to raise violence, but as far as Iraqis overall, there will be no tears for Saddam Hussein."
Saddam, 68, is likely to face subsequent charges over 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.
Yet these more high-profile cases have been put aside for a relatively obscure case: the 1982 killing of 143 residents of the Shiite village of Dujail, allegedly as revenge for an attempt on Saddam's life.
In Dujail, villagers, including women clutching pictures of slain relatives, waved banners urging "death for Saddam Hussein".
Human Rights Watch, which exhaustively documented atrocities committed during Saddam's regime, has expressed doubts the trial will be fair.
The US-based group said problems with the tribunal and its statute include the lack of a requirement to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt, disputes among Iraqi politicians over court control and a ban on any commutation of death sentences.
The White House said it expects the trial to follow "basic international standards."
"This is an Iraqi process. The Iraqi people will make the decision about how they hold Saddam Hussein to account for his crimes against humanity and his brutalities against the Iraqi people," said spokesman Scott McClellan.
Secret US documents declassified Tuesday on the eve of the trial painted Saddam as a cunning survivor who depended on guile and brutality to overcome challenges to his rule.
The highly-anticipated trial comes just days after a largely peaceful referendum on a proposed new constitution to lay down the democratic foundations for Iraq after Saddam's tyrannical rule.
The vote, the second since Saddam was toppled in April 2003 by US-led invasion forces, is widely expected to approve the charter, though election officials say results will be unknown for days because of "anomalies."
Meanwhile: Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on Wednesday refused to give his name as he began answering questions from the judge on the first day of his trial.
A bearded Saddam described himself as the "president of Iraq" according to footage broadcast from the courtroom with a delay of about 30 minutes.
An international human rights group Wednesday urged Iraq not to execute former dictator Saddam Hussein if he is found guilty after his trial, saying it would stop the truth about his abuses from emerging.
Iraqi television on Wednesday broadcast the first pictures of Saddam Hussein attending his trial, showing the former dictator dressed in a suit and addressing the judge.
Besuited Saddam, carrying Koran, led into trial "He ... is totally convinced of his innocence."
Dulaimi said he would ask for an adjournment of at least three months, adding: "All options are open, including adjournment, which is one of the defence's rights."
The case will make history in the region as it marks the first time an Arab leader is being put on trial for crimes against his own people.
Saddam was captured in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit in December 2003 after months on the run following his ouster in April of that year by US-led invasion forces.
Armed US marshalls were patrolling outside the courthouse in a former Baath Party headquarters palace, while journalists covering the trial were subject to full-body ex-rays as well as usual checks.
Jaafari, whose brother and four cousins were executed during the old regime, said Iraqis would shed "no tears" for Saddam.
"I would like to see the trial take place and justice to be done and to be seen to be done," he was quoted by the Washington Times as saying.
"I do not rule out that there are groups who will use this opportunity to raise violence, but as far as Iraqis overall, there will be no tears for Saddam Hussein."
Meanwhile: Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter Raghad is convinced of her father's innocence but unhappy with how his trial opening Wednesday is being conducted, a member of the deposed leader's defence team told AFP.
"I cannot speak on her behalf, after all President Saddam is her father, but her morale is good because she is confident of his innocence," lawyer Issam Ghazzawi told AFP in Amman, where Raghad lives with her children.
"Mrs Raghad is, however, upset with the way the trial is being conducted and because of the absence of lawyers requested by her father," he added, referring to a large team of Arab and Western lawyers including former US attorney general Ramsey Clark.
Raghad's husband Hussein Kamel Hassan was murdered on Saddam's orders in February 1996. The couple and other members of the family had defected to neighbouring Jordan in August 1995 after Hassan was sacked as industry minister.
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