Saddam Trial: closing arguments

The defense is scheduled to take start its final arguments on July 10, then the five-judge panel is expected to recess the court to consider its verdicts in the trial.

Photo: Saddam Trial: closing arguments

Saddam Trial: closing arguments

Saddam and his seven co-defendants could face execution by hanging if convicted on charges of crimes against humanity for a crackdown against Shiites in the town of Dujail in the 1980s, the AP reports.

They are accused to arresting hundreds of people in the crackdown, including women and children, torturing some to death and killing 148 who were sentenced to death for a 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in Dujail.

Chief judgeRaouf Abdel-Rahman told the court that the day's session would be dedicated solely to hearing the prosecution. But Barzan Ibrahim, a top co-defendant in the trial and Saddam's former intelligence chief, interrupted him several times asking to speak, and the judge said he would allow him to speak at the end of the session.