Prosecutors say documents link Hussein to mass execution

BAGHDAD -- Prosecutors presented documents yesterday that they say link Saddam Hussein to the executions of more than 140 people following a failed attempt in 1982 to assassinate him, as the trial of the former Iraqi leader resumed after a two-week recess.

One document describing plans for the secret execution of 10 young prisoners allegedly includes a margin note in Hussein's handwriting indicating that the country's intelligence agency should handle the burial.

In past sessions, prosecutors have called witnesses to describe fearsome crimes they endured during the Hussein era. But most of the testimony did little to establish responsibility by the former president. Yesterday's session focused on often dryly worded documents that prosecutors contend link Hussein and other defendants directly to the massacre of residents of Dujail, a town 35 miles north of Baghdad, following the attempt on Hussein's life.

The chief prosecutor read the documents one at a time as the defendants listened almost silently -- a striking contrast with previous sessions, in which Hussein and codefendant Barzan Ibrahim, his half-brother and Iraq's former intelligence chief, have dominated the courtroom with colorful denunciations of the judge, witnesses, and the United States.

Chief Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman and the defense questioned the provenance of some of the documents because they were handwritten, but many bore the seal of the Iraqi government's intelligence service, the Mukhabarat.

''We think these are some significant documents that are starting to connect the dots and show a handprint in this case," said a US diplomat with knowledge of the case, who spoke on condition that he not be named. More documents are set to be presented at the trial's next session today.

A memo from the country's Revolutionary Court, dated June 14, 1984, said 148 suspects in the assassination attempt had been sentenced to death by hanging. Another document, dated two days later and allegedly signed by Hussein, approved all of the death sentences, prosecutors said.

The prosecutors presented a document from March 1985, signed by Ibrahim, that ordered that the executions proceed.

Another Revolutionary Court document from that month confirmed that 96 people had been hanged at the Abu Ghraib prison. A report from the intelligence service noted that an additional 46 people had been ''liquidated during interrogations," and that four people had been executed by mistake.

A 1985 Mukhabarat memorandum entered into evidence said that ''it was discovered that the execution of 10 boys was not carried out because their ages ranged from 11 to 17 years old. We recommend executing them in a secret manner in coordination with the management of the prison and the Mukhabarat."

The prosecutor said that Hussein drew an arrow from this paragraph to the margin and wrote: ''Yes. It is preferable that they are buried by the Mukhabarat."

The chief prosecutor, Jaafar Mousawi, said the 10 boys were allowed to reach the age of majority under Iraqi law. Then they were executed.

Hussein and his seven codefendants appeared subdued as they entered the courtroom yesterday for a new session of the frequently interrupted trial.

Hussein's attorneys announced that for ''health reasons" he had ended a hunger strike begun earlier in February. The court quickly dismissed defense motions for an adjournment and the removal of the chief judge. The defense's chief lawyer and deputy then left the courtroom.