The trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein resumed on Monday as prosecutors used handwriting experts to try to prove that Saddam signed execution orders to kill 148 Iraqi Shiites in 1982.
However, Saddam and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti, also his half-brother, have refused to provide the Iraqi tribunal a sample of their handwriting, according to Reuters.
Monday's session is being attended by all the trial's defendants, as well as their defense attorneys, the source added.
Saddam and seven of co-defendants are accused of ordering the killing of 148 villagers from the town of Dujail, where Saddam narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
Saddam has insisted that the execution of the Dujail villagers was carried out in accordance with Iraqi law.
“This was my decision as the president. I had the right to question the judgement, but I was convinced of the evidence against them,” Saddam said.
If charged, the defendants could receive the death penalty.
Saddam also faces separate charges of genocide against the Kurds during the 1980's
One civilian killed during Baghdad gunbattle
The resumption of Saddam's trial falls against a backdrop of ongoing violence in Iraq, as one man was killed on Monday after a gunbattle broke out between Iraqi security forces and gunmen in the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiya, according to the AP.
Iraqi army officials said that no security personnel had been killed, and that house-to-house searches were planned in the area.
Compromise eludes Iraqi faction leaders
Meanwhile, attempts to form a unity government in Iraq failed after leaders postponed a parliament session when efforts to agree on a prime minister were unsuccessful, according to the AP.
Sunni and Kurdish leaders oppose the Shiite choice of Prime Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari to head the new government, though Al Jaafari has refused to step aside.
Acting speaker Adnan Pachachi called a parliament session for Monday, hoping the full legislature could agree on a new prime minister.
The setback comes in the midst of ongoing violence which took the lives of at least 35 Iraqis on Sunday. Four American soldiers and one British soldier were also killed in the attacks.
US officials have expressed their conviction that establishing a unity government where Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish Iraqis are represented, is the best way to stem further violence so that more than 130,000 US soldiers can leave Iraq.
