Handwriting experts fail to appear at Saddam trial

The Baghdad court trying Saddam Hussein held a brief session today, but handwriting experts who had been due to testify on the authenticity of signatures on key documents did not appear.

When the experts did not attend, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman adjourned the session until Monday, ending the session after only about five minutes.

The experts had been the only witnesses due to appear.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants have denied that signatures on documents presented by the prosecution are theirs.

Saddam Hussein and several former top aides are on trial for their alleged roles in a 1982 massacre in the Iraqi town of Dujail in reprisal for an assassination attempt on the then Iraqi dictator.