Yesterday in Baghdad, after a two-week break, the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven of his associates resumed. The main defendant was absent from the hearing - the ex-president of Iraq was hospitalized due to a hunger strike announced on July 7. The command of US forces in Iraq reported that there is no threat to the life of 69-year-old Saddam; at the clinic, a nutrient solution is being administered through his mouth through a tube. Three other defendants are also participating in the hunger strike: former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, and former head of the Revolutionary Tribunal Awad al-Bandar.
The defendants' lawyers are also boycotting the trial, demanding safety for themselves and their family members. Three defense representatives have already been killed, the last murder occurring on June 21. Chief Judge Raouf Rashid Abdel Rahman has threatened to appoint new lawyers if the boycott continues. Yesterday the court dealt with three minor defendants - Baath Party functionaries in the village of Dujail, where 148 residents were killed in 1982 in retaliation for an assassination attempt on Saddam.
