Special report: Trial of Saddam Hussein

    BAGHDAD, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The trial of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on charges against humanity resumed in a Baghdad court on Thursday morning.

    The court session began with Awad al-Bandar, head of Saddam's Revolutionary Court and one of Saddam's seven co-defendants, being cross-examined.

    Al-Bandar was accused of issuing death sentences against 148 Shiite men in the northern village of Dujail, many of them relatives of those accused in an assassination attempt on Saddam's life in 1982.

    Saddam did not appear in Thursday's court session.

    The former Iraqi leader was cross-examined in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad on Wednesday, the first time in the about six-month-long trial.

    Saddam and his seven aides are facing charges against humanity including the killing of 148 Shiites in Dujail.

    If convicted, Saddam and his aides will face death penalty.

    On Tuesday, prosecutors announced that they would charge Saddam with genocide against the Kurds in the late 1980s.

    Saddam is expected to take the stand over the fresh genocide charges in a separate court as early as next month. Enditem