BAGHDAD, July 26: Saddam Hussein told his judge on Wednesday he would rather be shot than hanged if found guilty of crimes against humanity and complained of being forced to attend his controversial trial.

“I advise you as an Iraqi, if you were in a circumstance in which you have to issue a death penalty you have to remember that Saddam is a military man, and in this case the verdict should be death by shooting not by hanging,” he said.

A US official close to the court said the former Iraqi leader had broken his hunger strike, eating bread and fruit with a cola after a stormy session.

“I wrote you a petition clarifying that I don’t want to come to court, but they brought me against my will ... I have been on a hunger strike since July 8,” Saddam told chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman.

The entire defence team boycotted the latest session in the trial which is approaching its conclusion.

The court was adjourned until Thursday after a court-appointed lawyer delivered the final argument for Saddam. It will be the last court proceeding until October, when a verdict is expected.—Reuters