Experts confirm Saddam’s signature

EXPERTS confirmed the authenticity of Saddam Hussein’s signature on documents connected to a crackdown on Shi’ites in the 1980s, prosecutors said yesterday in a new session of the trial of the former Iraqi leader and seven co-defendants.

The report from handwriting experts said a signature on a document approving rewards for intelligence agents involved in the crackdown was Saddam’s.

In an earlier session, Saddam had refused to confirm or deny his signature. Some of his co-defendants had said their alleged signatures on other documents were forgeries.

The defence immediately disputed the experts’ results and insisted the documents be analysed by other experts not affiliated with the Iraqi Interior Ministry.

After hearing the report, the judge adjourned the court until tomorrow to give the experts time to look at more documents.

Saddam and the seven former members of his regime are on trial for the deaths of 148 Shi’ites and the imprisonment and torture of others after a 1982 assassination attempt against the former Iraqi leader in the Shi’ite town of Dujail. The defendants face possible execution by hanging if convicted.