Tribunal releases video of Saddam being questioned

The tribunal that will put Saddam Hussain on trial released a new video yesterday of the former dictator being questioned by magistrates about the killing of 50 Iraqis in retaliation for a failed assassination attempt in 1982.

The video from the Iraqi Special Tribunal showed a bearded Saddam wearing a dark-coloured jacket and white open-collared shirt being questioned by chief judge Raid Juhi.

Four other members of Saddam's administration also were shown in the video.

It was unclear when the video was made, and Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil Al Dulaimi, said he would have to see it before commenting. The tribunal said the lawyer was present during the questioning.

An announcement that accompanied the tape said Saddam was being questioned about crimes related to the execution of at least 50 Iraqis in 1982 in the Shiite town of Dujail, 80km north of Baghdad, in retaliation for the failed assassination attempt.

The new video also depicted Hussain Rashid Mohammad, a former Republican Guard general, and Taher Tawfiq Al Ani, a senior Baath Party official and adviser on Kurdish affairs.

They were questioned concerning the 1987-88 Anfal campaign, a depopulation plan in which hundreds of thousands of Kurds were killed or expelled from northern Iraq.

The two other men shown were Barzan Abd Al Gafur Sulayman Majid Al Tikriti and Muzahim Sa'ab Hassan Al Tikriti.

The first was a special Republican Guard commander and Saddam's cousin who was captured on July 23, 2003. He was No. 11 on the American list of most-wanted Iraqis.

The other headed Iraq's air defences under Saddam and who was captured on April 23, 2003. He was 12th on the list.

They were questioned about the 1991 suppression of a Shiite uprising in southern Iraq.

Meanwhile, in yesterday's violence, four suicide car bombings and other insurgent attacks killed 14 people, and at least 16 Iraqis were wounded after militants opened fire on authorities trying to evacuate the injured from one of the blasts.

The wave of attacks in Baghdad, Samarra and Tikrit came as radical anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr met with Russian ambassador and tribal chiefs from the insurgent hotbeds of Fallujah and Ramadi.

Russia and Al Sadr fiercely opposed the war.

The meeting between Al Sadr and Russian Ambassador Vladimir Chamov in Najaf seemed to be a sign of the cleric's desire to return to active politics after going into isolation last fall following clashes between his militia and US troops.

Also yesterday, gunmen have kidnapped a Kurdish women's rights activist in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Jaymon Qadir was kidnapped on Saturday in the city. Mohammad Kamal, an official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Kirkuk, said police had not obtained any information on her but "we accuse the enemies of Iraq and the Kurds".

Also, a senior US diplomat survived when a suicide car bomber struck a US military convoy in Baghdad, several police sources said. The US official's identity was unclear.