Witnesses tell of torture as Saddam stays out of court

TWO prosecution witnesses in the Saddam Hussein trial testified yesterday about torture at the hands of his security forces, but the former Iraqi leader and his co-defendants did not attend because they either boycotted the session or were barred from court.

Saddam and the other defendants watched the proceedings by a video hookup from elsewhere in the building, a Western diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the trial.

After an unusually short session of less than two hours, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman adjourned the trial for nearly two weeks until February 13, apparently to allow time to try to resolve the stand-off with the defence.