Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein listens as witness Ali Hassen Mohammed Al-Haideri gives testimony during court proceedings against Saddam and his co-defendants during the resumption of their trial yesterday in Baghdad. - REUTERS
BAGHDAD, (Reuters):
SADDAM HUSSEIN'S half-brother ate grapes while a man screamed in agony in a torture chamber, the alleged victim said yesterday, giving evidence at the former Iraqi president's trial in Baghdad.
The accusation was one of the most direct and specific of the trial so far. Some of the previous testimony from prosecution witnesses have been rambling and imprecise.
IDENTITY
The man, who testified from behind a curtain and was referred to only as Witness No. 1 to protect his identity, said Saddam's half-brother and intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, was present when he was tortured in Baghdad in the 1980s.
"During the interrogation they'd torture me, and Barzan was there eating grapes," he said.
"I was screaming. I'm an old man. He was there."
Saddam, Barzan and six others are charged with crimes against humanity. Prosecutors say they ordered the killings of 148 people from Dujail, north of Baghdad, following a failed attempt to assassinate Saddam in the town in 1982.
All eight deny the charges.
