'New direction' for Saddam trial

By Jonny Dymond
BBC News, Baghdad

For drama there is not much to match the trial of Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants.

Saddam Hussein has been on trial since October 2005

But this is not supposed to be about drama - it is supposed to be about establishing whether Saddam Hussein and senior members of his government are guilty of crimes against humanity.

There has been precious little of that so far.

Two judges have resigned for political reasons; one has gone because of a conflict of interest; two defence lawyers have been killed and one has fled the country.

The former Iraqi leader has used the trial as a platform to issue statements entirely unrelated to the charges against him.

If the past is any guide then the trial will be buried under a tangle of procedure.

End in sight?

But the future may well be different and there was a clue to it in the afternoon session on Sunday.

Once the shouting was over, half the defendants and all the defence team had walked out, chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman simply got on with it.

Two women gave their accounts of how they were imprisoned and tortured.

One defendant was given time to protest his innocence.

It is tempting to see the morning's astonishing events as part of the same old pattern - but they may in fact have been the end of it.

It is too early to say an end is in sight for this trial. But an end is now conceivable.

The trial continues on Wednesday.