SADDAM HUSSEIN returned to court in Baghdad yesterday to accuse the Shia-run Ministry of the Interior of killing thousands of Iraqis.

He is standing trial for crimes against humanity, accused of ordering the execution of 148 Shia villagers in 1982. His attack on the Ministry of Interior came after weeks of sectarian violence in which hundreds of Sunnis have died at the hands of Shia death squads.

He called the ministry a “side that kills thousands in the street”, referring to claims made by Sunnis that the ministry and police are complicit in sectarian murder. But although often inflammatory his previous speeches have made little impact among Iraqis. Even his supporters mostly regard him as yesterday’s man.

The deposed President was cross-examined on the evidence for the first time since the trial began in October. On March 15 the hearing was adjourned amid chaotic scenes after he refused to answer questions and made defiant speeches about the US occupation.

It was a calmer Saddam who returned to the courtroom, arguing effectively with his prosecutors in a marked change from his previous rantings. He insisted that documents linking him to the execution of 28 Shias under the age of 18 had been faked and said that he would never kill an Iraqi child. The court was shown documents which were alleged to be identity cards of 15 and 16-year-old boys whose deaths he is alleged to have ordered.

He argued constantly with the judge. He told him: “Your title and post are illegal and illegitimate. How can you judge the President of Iraq who stood as a spear against all those who plotted against Iraq, those who tried to hurt the nation?” He returned to court a day after genocide charges were announced against him relating to the Anfal campaign in 1988 in which more than 100,000 Kurds died, mostly civilians and many in chemical weapon attacks.

That new trial is expected in about a month, but the pace of proceedings yesterday indicated that this current trial may take some time to complete.

Saddam argued with prosecutors every step of the way and at one point, one of his defence lawyers, an Egyptian woman, had to be thrown out of the court after she refused to stop shouting at the judge. She was led away holding up a picture of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison.

Times Recommends

• Times Charity Appeal: SolarAid
• Is it Black Monday all over again for Dubai?
• Behind the scenes at the biggest deal