Wednesday, April 12 2006 14:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: The trial of Saddam Hussein on charges of crimes against humanity resumed today (Apr 12, 2006) for a brief ten minute session without the deposed leader or any of the other seven defendants present.

Chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman adjourned the session to April 17 after the shortest session of the trial since it began in October.

"The trial is adjourned to April 17 for experts to verify the signatures of the defendants who were not in the court today," Abdel Rahman said.

"We adjourn to give the experts time to accomplish their task of verifying the signatures."

He said the signatures of defendants Saddam, Barzan Ibrahim Tikriti, Ali Daeh Ali, Abdullah Khadem Ruweid, Mezhar Abdullah Ruweid have to be verified.

Prosecution presented enormous volumes

The prosecution has presented enormous volumes of documents with signatures of Saddam and other defendants linking them to the massacre of 148 Shiites from Dujail village in the mid-1980s.

These documents need to be verified by experts. Saddam and some of the other defendants have already dismissed these documents, saying they were forged.

Earlier yesterday a court official had said that today's session was expected to be a short one with none of the defendants appearing in the court.

In sharp contrast to raucous earlier hearings, the trial has recently moved to the more mundane business of introducing evidence.