Saddam's defense team says witnesses were beaten

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The defense team in the trial of Saddam Husseinprotested today over the arrest of four of its witnesses, saying someof them were beaten by Iraqi guards. The chief judge said they werejailed on suspicion of perjury.

The witnesses, who were jailed last week after testifying,included one who claimed some of the 148 Shiites that Saddam and hisseven co-defendants are accused of killing are still alive.

The identities of the other three detained witnesses were notimmediately known. The arrests came after Wednesday's session, whenone witness alleged that the chief prosecutor in the trial, Jaafar al-Moussawi, had attempted to bribe him to testify against Saddam.

Al-Moussawi denied the charge, and chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahmanwarned the witness he could face prosecution for perjury.

The eight co-defendants are accused of crimes against humanity ina sweep against the town of Dujail, including torturing prisoners andkilling 148 Shiites sentenced to death for a 1982 assassinationattempt against Saddam.

The prosecution has said all 148 were either executed or weretortured to death before they were sentenced.

But defense lawyer Wadud Fawzi last week read a list of 15 namesfrom the 148 who he said were still alive, died natural deaths lateror were killed in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

"There are basic mistakes in the prosecution's case," Fawzi said."We contest the authenticity of documents presented in this court anddemand the court be halted to investigate the case."

Abdel-Rahman ordered the defense to provide documents proving the15 were still alive or were not killed in the crackdown. But herefused to halt the trial and argued with Fawzi over the line ofdefense, saying, "All these demands are not helping your clients."

One of the defense's witness also testified last week that 23 ofthose sentenced to death were still alive and that he had met themrecently in Dujail. The witness was among those arrested the nextday, according to chief defense lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi.

Defense lawyer Khamis al-Obeidi said two of the witnesses weredetained inside the court and the other two were arrested inside theGreen Zone. He claimed they had been beaten by the Iraqi army.

The defense has argued that if some of the Shiites were notkilled, it throws doubt on the entire prosecution case. Last week, italso presented a video it said showed that one of the prosecution'switnesses, Ali al-Haidari, perjured himself when he claimed on thestand that there had been no assassination attempt against Saddam inDujail in 1982.

Abdel-Rahman has not moved to investigate al-Haidari for perjury.But he said he had ordered the four defense witnesses "detained for... investigation."

"They committed perjury. Should I reward them?" he said.

The court today heard two witnesses testifying on behalf of one ofthe lower-level defendants in the trial, Ali Dayih. But Abdel-Rahmanchastised the defense for not having other witnesses ready. Headjourned the court until June 12.