STROKING his beard and gazing intently at the men who may one day sentence him to death, Saddam Hussein was shown yesterday being interrogated by judges investigating him for crimes against humanity.

The Iraqi Special Tribunal released footage of the former dictator being questioned about the massacre in Dujail after a failed assassination attempt as he drove through the village 50 miles north of Baghdad in 1982.

Residents of the mainly Shia village say that more than 350 people were killed in reprisal attacks by troops and helicopters. Led by Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother, the regime’s forces razed Dujail’s date groves and took hundreds away for torture and execution.

The video, the first since Saddam’s initial court appearance last July, shows the former President in a dark jacket and open-neck shirt, looking drawn and tired. There are heavy bags under his eyes and he clasps his hands and squeezes his fingers, clutching them together when apparently trying to make a point. His hair is unkempt and his beard more flecked with grey than a year ago.

The hearing is thought to have taken place on Sunday. He is being questioned by judges, including Judge Raed al-Juhi, the head of the tribunal. “Answer the question, answer the question,” Mr al-Juhi could be seen telling Saddam in the silent video.

Four other senior Baathists were also shown being questioned about the massacres of Kurds during the Anfal campaign in 1988, and the crushing of the 1991 uprising.

Iraq’s Shia-led Government has made little secret of its desire to see speedy justice for the former President, who remains a figurehead for Sunni insurgents.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Prime Minister, indicated last week that Saddam would go on trial before elections scheduled for December, but Saddam remains in the hands of US jailers and the trial’s timing will be decided by the special tribunal, which is assisted by a team of senior US officials, not Mr Jaafari’s Government.

Prosecutors are thought to believe that it will be easier to prove direct responsibility for the Dujail massacre than in some of the other cases involving a lengthy chain of command, such as the 1988 Anfal campaign to massacre Kurds and the suppression of the 1991 uprising.

Defence lawyers have already told The Times that they intend to cast doubt on one high-profile case, the 1988 gassing of 5,000 Kurds in Halabja, by claiming that Iranian aircraft may have dropped the gas. Five others are said to be involved over Dujail, including Mr al-Tikriti and Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam’s former Vice-President who may testify against him.

Saddam and 11 of his most senior henchmen are to be prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

All 12 appeared before the tribunal last July, and others including Ali Hassan al Majid — known as Chemical Ali — appeared before an investigative judge for the second stage of the trial process this year.

The tribunal said the session was only for “investigative procedures”, and that no decision had yet been taken to charge him.

A Western official in Baghdad said yesterday that the release of the video was to show Iraqis that “things are happening”. “I think they are just starting to show these sessions more often so that people understand that even if there isn’t a trial there is a lot going on,” he said.

Saddam’s lawyers have called on Arabs to champion the prisoner they dub the Father of all Holy Warriors. The defence team said the dictator’s Iraqi lawyer saluted Saddam after being brought to meet him for a consultation at a secret location last December. The lawyer then flew to Jordan to talk to Saddam’s daughters, Raghad and Rana.

Two key elements of the defence will be that as President he was immune from prosecution under Article 40 of the Iraqi Constitution, and that the Iraqi special tribunal set up by the US-led occupying power is illegal under Articles 3 and 4 of the Geneva Convention.

Chief among their attempts to rally Arab public sympathy is the claim that the American version of Saddam’s capture — that he was caught in a squalid underground bunker in al-Dawr near his home town of Tikrit — was a lie intended to humiliate him.

They claim that he was seized while praying in a villa five days before the date the Americans allege.

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