New footage showing Saddam Hussein under preliminary questioning in advance of his trial for crimes against humanity was released by Iraq's Special Tribunal today, the first video of the deposed leader seen since July last year.

Saddam, wearing a dark jacket and open-necked white shirt, and four members of his administration are apparently being interrogated by the magistrates who will oversee his trial, which is due to begin within the next few months.

The deposed Iraqi president's relatively well-groomed appearance stands in stark contrast to pictures controversially published in The Sun showing Saddam dressed only in his underpants. Judge Raad Jouhi, who presides over the tribunal, today said that he had sanctioned the release of the video.

An announcement which accompanies the silent footage suggested that he was being questioned over the execution in 1982 of around 100 men from the Shia village of Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad, in reprisal for a failed assassination attempt.

Although among the lesser offences which Saddam faces, it is thought that this incident will be used as a test case early in the trial. There has been speculation that prosecutors may find it easier to produce evidence of his direct personal involvement in these killings than in some of the more prominent accusations.

Ibrahim Al-Jafaari, the Prime Minister, has said that he expects that at least 12 separate charges will be laid formally against the ousted leader when the trial begins. The government has said that its priority is to hold a swift trial with enough evidence to ensure Saddam, who was captured by American forces in December 2003, receives the death sentence.

This means it will not be necessary to prepare cases on all the many other charges of genocide and crimes against humanity he faces, thought to number more than 500.

One source in the Iraqi government told the Reuters news agency that two of five people currently charged in connection with Dujail - Saddam’s half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and the former vice-president, Taha Yassin Ramadan - were ready to testify that he had personally ordered the killings.

Giovanni di Stefano, who is representing Saddam in an American civil court case, confirmed that the footage showed the interrogation of the former dictator. But he claimed its contents would be inadmissible because at the time it was made the former president was without legal assistance.

Mr di Stefano, who is based in London, said: "We were aware this interrogation was on video. President Hussein was, however, without the benefit of legal assistance.

"In accordance with Article 20 of the Special Iraqi Tribunal rules, it follows that any content within the interrogations are deemed inadmissible."

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