Baghdad, Iraq – Saddam Hussein announced Tuesday that he and several co-defendants are on a hunger strike to protest his trial.
“For the past three days, we’ve been on a hunger strike against you and your masters,” Hussein declared.
Word of the hunger strike came during another turbulent session of Hussein’s trial in a heavily guarded Baghdad courtroom.
The session ended with an announcement that it would be adjourned until Feb. 28.
Also Tuesday, gunmen killed 11 men on a farm in the northern city of Balad, including a local sheik, a local official said. The attack was the worst incident on a day of scattered violence. The official said a group of unidentified gunmen opened fire about 8 a.m.
Hussein’s trial has been delayed repeatedly since it began in October, most recently by the resignation of the original chief judge and by the refusal of Hussein and his co-defendants to attend the sessions.
The former Iraqi president has claimed repeatedly that the court is a puppet for the American occupation forces, and he attended the trial Monday only after being brought there by force.
Tuesday, Hussein’s half brother, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, on trial for his role as Hussein’s chief of intelligence, attended the trial in his pajamas. He said he had not planned to attend but was tricked into leaving his cell.
Hussein walked into court chanting, “Praise be to Allah, long live our nation.”
Tikriti took up the chant, adding, “Long live the Baath Party.”
Another defendant, Awad Bandar, told the court he was on the second day of a hunger strike.
The chief judge, Raouf Abdel Rahman, a Kurd who has taken a notably stricter line with defendants than his predecessor, sparred briefly with Hussein and other defendants, who were complaining about the court’s having appointed lawyers to take the place of their own, who are boycotting the trial.
At one point, Rahman told Hussein: “You are a defendant. You should stand up before you speak to me.”
“I am not a servant in your house,” Hussein replied.
Hussein and the others are charged with the killing of 148 men from the town of Dujayl in the Shiite south in reprisal for an assassination attempt during a visit there by Hussein in 1982. Hussein has objected to the choice of Rahman as chief judge. He comes from a village in Kurdistan that was attacked with poison gas by Hussein’s forces in 1988, killing some of Rahman’s relatives.
The court heard Tuesday from three witnesses, all former officials under Hussein and all of whom said they were testifying reluctantly.
One witness, Fahid al-Azzawi, a former diplomat, told the court, “I reject being a witness in this case because I do not have information,” news services reported. “I was forced to come to court.”