Saddam Hussein's trial for the killing of 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s resumed Monday with the late Iraqi leader's seat empty, nine days after he went to the gallows.

The court's first order of business was to drop all charges against Saddam.

Six co-defendants still face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from a military campaign code-named Operation Anfal during the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war.

Shortly after the court reconvened Monday, a bailiff called out the names of the accused and the six men walked silently into the courtroom one after another.

Chief Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa said the court decided to stop all legal action against the former president, since "the death of defendant Saddam was confirmed."

All seven defendants in the Anfal case, including Saddam, had pleaded innocent to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Saddam and one other man also pleaded innocent to the additional charge of genocide.

Saddam was sentenced to death for the killing of 148 Shi'ites and hanged on December 30 in a chaotic execution that has drawn global criticism for the Shi'ite-dominated government.

Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, Barzan Ibrahim, and former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, were sentenced to death after being found guilty along with Saddam of involvement in the killings in the town of Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt there against Saddam.

Their executions were postponed, however, until after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which ended six days ago. They are expected in the coming days, though Jaafar al-Mousawi, the chief prosecutor in the separate Dujail case, said the timing would "be determined by the government."

Sami al-Askari, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, declined to give reasons for the delay and said only that "no date has been made yet" for al-Bandar and Ibrahim's hangings.

Six co-defendants

The six remaining defendants in the Anfal case all senior members of Saddam's ousted regime include his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds.

As al-Majid took his seat in court Monday, he tried to turn on his microphone to speak publicly. The judge quickly shut it off, preventing him from being heard.

The other defendants are former Defense Minister Sultan Hashim al-Tai, who was the commander of Task Force Anfal and head of the Iraqi army 1st Corps; Sabir al-Douri, Saddam's military intelligence chief; Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, former governor of Mosul and head of the Northern Affairs Committee; Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces and Farhan Mutlaq Saleh, former head of military intelligence's eastern regional office.

Legal experts said the Anfal trial would proceed more smoothly without Saddam.

"The trial will be more elastic and easy. It will clarify and expose more facts because Saddam Hussein's disappearance from dock will encourage other defendants to mention some facts that they were afraid to divulge when he was with them," said Tariq Harb, an Iraqi lawyer and legal expert.

Video aired as evidence

In Monday's trial, prosecutors aired a video in which Saddam and "Chemical Ali" allegedly discussed how chemical weapons would exterminate thousands before unleashing them on Kurds in 1988.

"I will strike them with chemical weapons and kill them all and damn anyone who is going to say anything," a voice identified by prosecutors as "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majeed is heard saying.

"Yes it's effective, especially on those who don't wear a mask immediately, as we understand," a voice identified as Saddam is heard saying on another tape.

"Sir, does it exterminate thousands?" a voice asks back.

"Yes, it exterminates thousands and forces them not to eat or drink and they will have to evacuate their homes without taking anything with them, until we can finally purge them," the voice identified as Saddam answers.

The prosecutor also aired a video showing the aftermath of chemical weapons attacks on Kurdish areas, with dozens of dead men, women and children.

In Monday's session, prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon presented a document allegedly signed by al-Ani, calling for the execution of 10 members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party headed by current Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Al-Ani later denied the handwriting was his.

"This is not my signature and I'm sure of that," he told the court.

Boy hangs himself

A Saudi boy who hanged himself in northeastern Saudi Arabia may have been influenced by television coverage of Saddam Hussein's execution, a newspaper reported Monday.

The 12-year-old boy used a chair and metal wire to hang himself from a door frame at his home in the city of Hafr al-Baten, near the border with Kuwait, al-Hayat daily said.

An unnamed security source told the daily the boy had watched television footage of the ex-Iraqi leader's hanging.

Officials could not be reached for comment.

(China Daily via agencies January 9, 2007)