The trial of Saddam Hussein and fellow members of his regime resumed Sunday, with the judge calling in each defendant individually to present his testimony. The session began with defendant Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid, a low-ranking level official from Saddam's former ruling Baath Party, who was called in and stood alone in the defendants pen as chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman questioned him. The questioning appeared to represent a new phase in the trial. Since the tribunal began Oct. 19, the prosecution has been bringing forward witnesses and presenting documents they say show the role of Saddam and his seven co-defendants in a crackdown launched after a 1982 assassination attempt against the then-Iraqi leader in the Shiite town of Dujail. The defendants are on trial for the deaths of 148 Shiites in the crackdown, as well as illegal imprisonment and torture of Dujail residents. They face possible execution by hanging if convicted, the Associated Press reported.
