Saddam Hussein defiantly challenged the legitimacy of the US-backed court, but then entered a plea of not guilty as he went on trial on Wednesday for crimes against humanity committed two decades ago.
After a three-hour hearing during which Saddam and his seven co-defendants were charged with the murder of 148 Shia men, the chief judge adjourned the trial until November 28.
Afterwards, as he was being led out of court, Saddam angrily ordered two jailors not to hold his arms. He shoved one of them in the shoulder, and then they let him walk out untouched.
The judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, who is Kurdish, told Reuters the main reason for the adjournment was that dozens of witnesses, some of them relatives of the men killed, had been too frightened to show up and testify.
Grey-bearded and wearing a dark jacket over an open-necked white shirt, a proud Saddam harangued Amin from his seat inside a shoulder-high white metal pen on the floor. The other defendants sat quietly in other pens around him.
Asked by the judge for his full name, Saddam, 68, shot back: "You know me. You are an Iraqi and you know who I am. "I won't answer to this so-called court ... Who are you? What are you?" Saddam said. "I retain my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq."
Amin said: "You are Saddam Hussein al-Majid ... former president of Iraq," at which point Saddam raised his finger to interrupt, saying testily: "I did not say former president."
Saddam was the last to enter the marble-floored court before the trial began shortly after midday (0900 GMT). He asked the jailers escorting him to slow down as he walked to his spot facing a panel of five judges. He carried a copy of the Quran.
"This is the first session of case number one, the case of Dujail," Amin told the court, referring to the town where bloody reprisals followed an attempt on Saddam's life on July 8, 1982.
The judge told the defendants the charges included murder, torture and forced expulsions, saying the crimes could carry the death penalty, and informed them of their rights, including a fair trial. In turn, Saddam first, they pleaded not guilty.
Then followed brief arguments by the defence and the prosecution, before the judge agreed to an adjournment, although he did not give the three months requested by Saddam's lawyer.
Iraq's government, struggling for popularity ahead of elections in December, had pressed for an early trial.
International observers, including several human rights groups, were in the court inside Baghdad's fortress-like Green Zone to monitor a trial some warned beforehand might end up creating the impression of "victor's justice".
The event, broadcast around the world with a 30-minute delay, was tightly choreographed and Iraqi lawyers said it bore little similarity to usual Iraqi criminal proceedings. The court and its chief judge appeared intent on showing fairness.
Amin presided from a dais above the defendants. Of the judges, only his face was shown on TV, and he conducted all questioning. Bronze scales of justice hung behind him.
The trial has started nearly two years after Saddam was captured hiding in a hole in the ground near where he was born. The charges stem from the 1982 attack when gunmen linked to the Shia Dawa Party tried to kill Saddam as his armoured convoy drove through Dujail, 60 km (35 miles) north of Baghdad.
Apart from the men said to have been killed in reprisal, women and children are alleged to have been removed from Dujail, taken to Abu Ghraib prison and later interned in a desert camp near the Saudi border where many ultimately "disappeared".
The defence is expected to ask the judges for a dismissal, contending that the court, set up in December 2003 when Iraq was under formal US occupation, is illegitimate.
Saddam's lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, is likely to argue that his client, as president, was immune from all criminal charges.
In Geneva, the head of a global legal watchdog said it had concerns over the independence and impartiality of the trial.
"(We do) have concerns on whether this is an independent and impartial tribunal, particularly as there is a very close involvement by the US-led coalition," said Nicholas Howen, secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists.
Across Iraq, however, many were thrilled to finally see their former oppressor in the dock.
In Dujail, Laith Abd Mahdi, a middle-aged resident said: "This is the end of every tyrant. He hurt us, hurt my relatives and hurt my closest friends. Death is not enough for him."
If found guilty, Saddam could be hanged. Tribunal statutes say any sentence should be carried out within 30 days of appeals being exhausted. That means Saddam could be executed before being tried on other charges such as genocide against the Kurds.
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