Saddam's signature on incriminating papers-court

BAGHDAD, Apr 24: Saddam Hussein and six of his co-accused signed documents linking them to the killings of 148 Shi'ites in the 1980s, the court trying the ousted leader heard today.

''The signatures and margins stipulated in the documents match the signature of Saddam Hussein on presidential decrees,'' said the report read out by a judge.

The prosecution had demanded the court commission a team of criminal experts to authenticate signatures and handwriting of the defendants facing charges of crimes against humanity.

Saddam and his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti have refused to give the court samples of their writing but both have said there was no crime in prosecuting the 148 Shi'ites because they were accused of trying to kill the former leader.

REUTERS

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