Defiant Saddam refuses to enter plea at second trial

A DEFIANT Saddam Hussein shouted at prosecutors and refused to enter a plea yesterday at the opening of his second trial, in which he faces charges of genocide and war crimes connected to his scorched-earth offensive against the Kurds nearly two decades ago.

“It’s time for humanity to know ... the magnitude and scale of the crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan,” the lead prosecutor for the Anfal case, Munqith al-Faroon, said in his opening statement on the trial’s first day.

The proceedings are taking place in the same courtroom where Saddam spent months jousting with the judges in his turbulent first trial. Saddam became furious when prosecutors spoke of Kurdish women being raped in prison during the campaign.