BAGHDAD, Feb 14: Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on Tuesday told the court trying him that he and his co-defendants have launched a hunger strike.

“We have been on a hunger strike for three days,” Saddam Hussein declared as the trial resumed for its 12th hearing since its opened in October. “Long live the great Arab nation” and “Long live the mujahedeen,” he shouted.

Saddam’s fellow defendant and half brother Barzan al Tikriti said he had been on hunger strike for two days. After a raucous session, the trial was adjourned until Feb 28.

“We will work to investigate (the hunger strike) and solve it,” court spokesman Raed al Juhi told reporters after the trial. “You see the defendants were in good health and Barzan was carrying a bottle of water.”

On Sunday, a member of Saddam’s defence team had said the defendants were on hunger strike but the team’s chief attorney later retracted the statement.

The start of the hearing was again marked by heated exchanges between defendants and presiding Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman, who has taken a tough line since taking over the trial after his predecessor resigned last month.

As the judge pounded his gavel to restore order, Saddam told him to ‘take that hammer and knock yourself on the head’.

After further arguments, the judge finally called the first witness, an anonymous former member of the intelligence services.

The man testified from behind a screen about the events surrounding the massacre in the village of Dujail in 1982 for which the former president and his seven co-accused have been charged. The killings followed a failed assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein.—AFP