Co-defendants of Saddam Hussein, Mohammed Azawi Ali (front L), Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid (front C) and Ali Daeem Ali (second row C), appear for their trial in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone February 1, 2006. The trial of Hussein adjourned until Thursday after the court heard five witnesses, but the former Iraqi president and his defence team were not present after deciding to boycott proceedings. (Xinhua/Reuters)

BAGHDAD, Feb. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, his defense team and four out of seven co-defendants boycotted the court session on Wednesday in a protest against the new chief judge and the trial was once again adjourned until Thursday.

    "Saddam, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Taha Yassin Ramadan, Awadal-Bandar and Mezhir Abdullah Ruwaiyd did not attend today's session," an official in the court's media office told Xinhua, who preferred not to be named.

    Despite the absence of key defendants and the defense team, the newly-appointed chief judge Raouf Rasheed Abdul Rahman decided to proceed with the trial nonetheless.

    Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi asked Rahman to bring the absent defendants to the court by force, but Rahman ruled that he would take the prosecutor's request into consideration in the coming sessions.

    Saddam and his defense team declared that their boycott of court sessions was a protest against Rahman's "unfair" handling of the trial proceedings, demanding his resignation.

    Rahman, a 46-year-old Kurd, was appointed the new chief judge and made his court debut on Sunday following the resignation of his predecessor Rizkar Mohammed Amin, also a Kurd, who complained of political pressure.

    Rahman came from the Kurdish town of Halabja, where 5,000 people were believed killed in a gas attack ordered by the Saddam regime in 1988.

    But Rahman insisted that the crime of Halabja will have no impact on him during the trial of Saddam.

    

Ali Daeem Ali (second row C) questions a witness as the other co-defendants of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Mohammed Azawi Ali (front L) and Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid (front C) appear for their trial in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone February 1, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters)

"The moment Halabja will come across my mind, I will remove myself from the trial immediately," Rahman said in a press release.  

    "I am on oath, and I swear to rule with just and if I have any other feelings other than a professional judge, I would step aside," he added.

    During Wednesday's session, the court heard the testimonies offive witnesses -- three women and two men-- all of whom spoke behind a curtain against Saddam and his aides.

    A woman witness recalled that the soldiers arrested her husband, brother and two nieces under Saddam's order in the Shiite town of Dujal, some 60 km north of Baghdad.

    She said that she had never seen them again afterwards.   

    Saddam and his seven aides are charged with crimes against humanity, including the killing of over 140 Shiite men in Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on Saddam in 1982. 

    If convicted, Saddam and his aides might face the death penalty.

    The high-profile trial has been marred by the killings of two defense lawyers, the resignation of chief judge Amin and successive postponements.  Enditem