Speaking from behind a curtain, witnesses testified in defence of some of the lesser-known defendants.

The trial was then adjourned until next week when the focus is expected to turn to Saddam Hussein and his lieutenants.

The judge has agreed to allow the defence to call Saddam as a witness for one of his co-defendants, AP reports.

Former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan asked for Saddam Hussein and the former Iraqi intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, to be allowed to testify on his behalf, the news agency said.

Wednesday's session saw all eight defendants back in court for the first time since Monday when the charges were officially read out.

"To establish justice we prefer to bring in all the defendants today with their attorneys," chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman said at the start of the hearing, according to AFP news agency.

Saddam Hussein's lawyers had complained that their client had not been called to appear in court on Tuesday to respond to the evidence.

The charges relate to the defendants' alleged roles in the crackdown on the town of Dujail in 1982 after a failed assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein.

Saddam Hussein has been accused of ordering:

• The illegal arrest of 399 people
• The torture of women and children
• The destruction of farmland
• The murder of nine people in the early days of the crackdown
• The murder of 148 people in the later phase of the crackdown

Defence tactics

Defence testimony concentrated on some of the defendants from Dujail, who had been officials in the ruling Baath party and are accused of sending letters to the security forces informing on Dujail residents.

Witnesses continued to testify that they were good men and low-ranking officials with no responsibility or involvement in what happened.

At one point, Saddam Hussein intervened in an argument about the validity of someone speaking about events from his childhood.

"Imagination is part of a child's nature... so that could lead him to give testimony based on imagination and that would lead to injustice," he said.

He also joked when one of the defendants shouted out that he had nothing to do with the crackdown, saying: "These Dujailis are known for their excitability".

Saddam Hussein and his top aides have argued that the crackdown in Dujail was a legal response to the assassination attempt.

But the defence has adopted a different approach with these three defendants, arguing that they were not involved at all in the arrest of people from Dujail, AP reported.