Hussein Returns To Court

The trial of Saddam Hussein, is due to resume in Baghdad today following a series of delays and difficulties. The court has sat for only seven days since it opened in October and last month the presiding judge, Rizgar Amin, resigned following accusations that he was too lenient. Human rights groups have said Mr Amin's resignation has cast doubt on the fairness of the whole trial, which has also seen two defence lawyers murdered. The reshuffle of the judges also means that a significant proportion of the five-judge panel will not have been present for the previous 15 witnesses' testimony.The new judge appointed to head the trial, Abdel Rahman, 64, is Kurdish and the vice president of the criminal court in the northern town of Arbil. He was twice arrested by the Iraqi government and at one point was tortured so badly he was partly paralyzed. Mr Rahman was born in Halabja, the Kurdish town bombed by Hussein's forces with chemical weapons in 1988 - another of the events for which he could be tried later. The trial is to begin with further prosecution witnesses from Dujail, who will describe suffering at the hands of Saddam Hussein and his aides. Subsequent sessions will feature officials of the former regime testifying about what happened in Dujail, followed by documentary evidence aiming to link the defendants to the events.