Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein gestures as he addresses Presiding Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin during his trial held under tight security in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone December 6, 2005. (Reuters photo)

    Beijing, Dec. 7 (Xinhuanet)-- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein turned the court into his own stage after the trial was resumed on Tuesday in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad.

    Standing up and waving his finger back and forth, Saddam has repeatedly said that he is still the president of Iraq, reminding Iraqis of decades of rule.

    "Saddam was acting as if he was in power and still a president and the judge was too weak to stop him," said Raed Abdul Kareem, 38, a printing house worker in Baghdad.     

    Recalling the bitter war Iraqis fought with Iran in the 1980s and his long confrontation with the United States after invading Kuwait in 1990, Saddam was in his element, speaking of grand struggles and the glory of the Arab nation.

    "You (Iraqis) were killed and you sacrificed against Iran for eight years and then we fought the evil of the West," he told the judge in an outburst.

    Saddam, dressed in a dark suit and white shirt and clutching a Quran, complained that he and the seven other defendants were tired and had been deprived of opportunities to shower, have a change of clothes, exercise or go for a smoke.

    "This is terrorism," he declared.

::::::	Saddam trial resumes after Tuesday's daylong session
::::::	Saddam trial cuts audio of female witness
::::::	Saddam trial goes into 2nd day
::::::	First witness testifies in Saddam trial
::::::	Saddam trial resumes after recess
::::::	Saddam trial resumes in Baghdad

    Five witnesses ¡ª two women and three men ¡ª testified Tuesday in the fourth session of the trial, all of them hidden from the public view and with their voices disguised to protect their identities.

    The most compelling testimony came from the woman identified only as "Witness A," who was a 16-year-old girl at the time of the crackdown. 

    "I was forced to take off my clothes, and he raised my legs up and tied my hands. He continued administering electric shocks and whipping me and telling me to speak," Witness A said of Wadah al-Sheik, an Iraqi intelligence officer who died of cancer last month while in American custody.

     After the testimony, Saddam was back to his combative style.

    "I will not return," he shouted after the court decided to convene again Wednesday. "I will not come to an unjust court! Go to Hell!"  

    He complained the court had time to listen to the witnesses' complaints "but does anyone ask Saddam Hussein whether he was tortured? Whether he was hit?"

    He urged the judge to investigate his conditions because "it is your duty as judges to investigate the crime at its scene."

    "I live in an iron cage covered by a tent under American democratic rule. You should come see my cage," he told Chief judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin. "The Americans and the Zionists want to execute Saddam Hussein." 

     Saddam and his deputies are accused of the imprisonment and torture of hundreds, as well as the execution of more than 140 Shiites in Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982. The massacre was purportedly carried out in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt on Hussein in the village.

    All the accused pled not guilty over the massacre. If convicted, they may face death penalty. Enditem

    (Agencies)