The turbulent trial of Saddam Hussein descended further into disarray today when the latest session was cancelled after key witnesses failed to attend court.

Rauf Rashid Abdel-Rahman, a previously unknown Kurdish magistrate who was sworn in as an interim replacement for Judge Rizkar Amin yesterday, was eventually forced to adjourn proceedings until Sunday.

The court has sat for only seven days in three months and there is growing public impatience for retribution under the newly-elected Shia Arab administration. At best, the trial - a crucial step in Iraq’s political progress - is not scheduled to be complete before June.

Hundreds of Iraqis took to the streets of several Shia cities calling for the faltering legal process to be scrapped, and instead demanding summary execution of the former dictator. "Death is the minimum sentence for Saddam," several hundred students shouted in the holy Shia city of Najaf, south of the capital.

The witnesses who were due to appear today had been expected to give more evidence linking Saddam and seven of his former lieutenants to the 1982 massacre of 140 Shias in the village of Dujail.

After several hours of waiting, however, the judge announced: "Due to the fact some of the complainants could not make it to attend the court, some of them are out of Iraq and some are on pilgrimage, the court decided to postpone the session until Sunday."

The pilgrimage to Mecca to mark haj ended last week, but the court refused to respond to further questions. One official told reporters that the next series of witnesses had included former members of the regime.

The Iraqi government has yet to formally accept Judge Amin’s resignation, given on January 15 after his handling of the case was criticised by politicians for being too lenient. The administration has adhered to an official position that he is "on leave" but he has repeatedly refused requests to return.

Judge Abdel-Rahman, his replacement, has already become a source of further squabbles among the rest of the panel. A Kurd who was born in Halabja, Abdel-Rahman reportedly lost several members of his own family to a Saddam-backed gas attack that killed 5,000 locals in 1988.

The controversy has thrown another cloud over the handling of the trial, with defence lawyers and international rights bodies calling for it to be held abroad, and claiming that the trial risks being seen as unfair if it continues in Baghdad.

Two defence lawyers were kidnapped and murdered just after the trial began in October. Another judge was forced to step down because he discovered that he was related to a victim in the case. The trial has also been rocked by accusations that Amin’s deputy, Sayeed al-Hamash, is a member of the Ba'ath Party and a Saddam sympathiser.

Saddam and seven co-defendants, including his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Taha Yassin Ramadan, the former vice-president, stand accused of ordering the deaths of 143 men from Dujail after a failed assassination attempt in 1982. The tyrant has held long tirades denouncing the court and claiming that he had been abused by court wardens and denied basic privileges, such as showers and access to writing material, during the proceedings.

• Eight people died when bombs exploded at a private bank and government offices in the oil-rich Iranian city of Ahvaz, where a scheduled visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been cancelled at the last minute.

  The official IRNA news agency said that another 46 people were wounded in the two blasts between 9.30 and 10am (0600-0630 GMT) in the restive city, which borders British-controlled southern Iraq.

  President Ahmadinejad cancelled his visit late last night. His office denied suggestions that he had been warned about the potential threat, saying that the visit was scrapped because of sandstorms.

  Ahvaz has been the focus of unrest for the past eyar, including ethnic riots in April and a string of car bombings. In October another double bombing claimed six lives and wounded more than 100 people. Several pipeline blasts have also been reported.

  Iran has in the past pointed the finger of blame at Britain for the unrest, accusing British forces based across the border in Iraq for backing ethnic Arab separatists.

  The region was devastated during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988, and many residents of the area have complained of continued poverty and a lack of job opportunities.

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