Saddam's feared half-brother takes stand in trial

BAGHDAD, Mar 15 (Reuters) Saddam Hussein's former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti, once one of Iraq's most feared men, formally took the stand in their trial today, saying he faced trumped up charges of crimes against humanity.

Barzan, also one of Saddam's half brothers, took a noticeably softer tone in court as he defended actions which led to his trial on charges that could lead to hanging.

He said death sentences handed down against 148 Shi'ite people accused of trying to assassinate Saddam in the village of Dujail in 1982 had been justified.

Barzan took the same line as former Revolutionary Court chief and co-accused Awad Bandar, saying Saddam had acted according to law and that Iraq was at war with Shi'ite neighbour Iran at the time of the Dujail attack.

''This group was a danger to Iraq's security. They carried out operations ordered by a foreign country that was at war with Iraq,'' he said, apparently referring to Iran, which fought a long war with Iraq in the 1980s.

''What Saddam did was legal. All the actions taken by Saddam were according to law. I am not defending Saddam.'' Saddam was not in court as he awaited his turn to testify.

Number 38 on the US most wanted list in Iraq, Barzan levelled some of his comments at US President George W Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, saying the democracy they speak of in Iraq does not exist.

Striking a conciliatory tone after his frequent tirades against the US-sponsored court, Barzan complained of human rights abuses during his detention by US forces.

MESSAGE TO BUSH, RUMSFELD ''Today's my day, so give me time to speak,'' Barzan told chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman.

Barzan said the charges against him were trumped up: ''I have been brought here for something I didn't do,'' he said.

He questioned the credibility of witnesses who claimed to have seen him ordering the arrest of suspects, calling them liars.

Barzan acknowledged he was in Dujail on the day of the assassination attempt but said he shook the hands of suspects who had been rounded up and then released them because there was no evidence against them.

Prosecution witnesses have previously testified that Barzan oversaw the arrest of suspects and the destruction of farmlands as a reprisal. They also said he personally tortured some suspects, a charge he has denied.

A former Iraqi ambassador in Geneva, Barzan has made frequent outbursts and clashed with Abdel Rahman, who is from the Kurdish village of Halabja that suffered from a chemical gas attack in 1988 that killed 5,000 people.

Barzan has appeared at some hearings in long underwear in protest at the trial. But he was more restrained in Wednesday's session, questioning documents and speaking politely to the judge.

As intelligence chief, Barzan was accused of ordering mass murder and torture, and of personally taking part in human rights abuses, including the destruction of villages.

''I hope that President Bush and Mr. Rumsfeld hear my words. The democracy in Iraq has been slaughtered by the friends of America and by the American army,'' he told Abdel Rahman.

''What is taking place now on Iraq's land has no relation to democracy. It is against democracy.'' Barzan, who was captured in 2003, said he faced many questions from US forces, including on the whereabouts of weapons of mass destruction, the main reason cited by Bush for the invasion. No such weapons were ever found.

REUTERS HS PM1711