The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial on Monday accused the ousted Iraqi leader's half-brother of having blood on his hands from an early age. "Enough blood. Your hands have been saturated with blood since your childhood," Raouf Abdel Rahman told Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's former intelligence chief.
Saddam, who did not appear in court, was being fed through a tube on Sunday after 16 days of a hunger strike to protest against a trial that has been marred by chaos from day one and is approaching its conclusion.
The entire defence team boycotted the session, saying the court has refused to meet their demands for a fair trial. The court was adjourned until Wednesday.
Barzan is one of three others of Saddam's co-accused presumed to be taking part in the hunger strike but that did not stop him from showing his usual defiance.
He refused a court appointed lawyer and demanded he be allowed to leave the court, a request firmly turned down. "I am here against my will," said Barzan, wearing a flowing white robe and traditional Arab headdress.
The former Iraqi president was receiving medical care for the hunger strike but the US military said his condition was not critical.
Three of Saddam's co-accused are presumed to be taking part in the hunger strike; Barzan, his former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, who headed Iraq's Revolutionary Court.
Saddam, 69, has been drinking sweet coffee and liquid nourishment and receiving psychological counselling to try to persuade him to eat, said the US military.
Saddam and his seven co-defendants are on trial for the killing of 148 Shia men and teenagers after an attempt on his life in the town of Dujail in 1982. They could face hanging if found guilty.