BAGHDAD, July 21 (Xinhuanet) -- A videotape aired by a pan-Arab television showed Iraq's toppled President Saddam Hussein appearing before a tribunal official on Thursday.

    The Dubai-based al-Arabiyah TV aired the tape that showed Saddam listening to an Iraqi official reading charges against him, including dispossessing properties belonging to Iraqi Kurds and Shiite Muslims.

    "You are detained by an elected government for charges against you. You are accused of confiscating properties of Shiite Fali Kurds. You have the right to have a lawyer," said the judge.  

    Saddam protested several times during the hearing. He interrupted the official, "Under the law, shouldn't the lawyer face his defendant before the hearings?"

    He also complained that he had not been told when the hearing would be held.

    "I am detained and this is a game ... I am detained by the Iraqi government appointed by the Americans," said Saddam as he sat in court.  Enditem