The trial of Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity resumed in Baghdad today.
The chief judge ruled that signatures linking the ousted Iraqi leader to a massacre in the 1980s were authentic.
Shortly after the trial resumed, chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman announced that 'the experts verified these documents and the signatures of Saddam Hussein were found to be authentic'.
Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi had presented a report by three handwriting experts that he said proved those claims.
Saddam lawyer Khalil Dulaimi contested the report, demanding that a neutral body make a judgement on the authenticity of the signatures.
Khamis al-Obaidi, another defence lawyer, said the experts were interior ministry employees, and not neutral. 'They are against the former regime,' he said.
In two earlier hearings, Saddam Hussein acknowledged that he had ordered the trial of Dujail villagers suspected of plotting to assassinate him, but he did not admit he was responsible for their executions.
After the Dujail trial, he and six others will also face charges of genocide over the 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurds that left as many as 100,000 people dead.
