Saddam witness says "executed" people still alive

Omar al-Ibadi and Fredrik Dahl
Reuters
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Baghdad (Iraq):
A witness for Saddam Hussein appeared to dispute prosecution allegations that 148 people were executed after a failed assassination bid in 1982, telling the court on Tuesday that some of them were still alive.
The anonymous man, testifying from behind a curtain in the courtroom in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, suggested the survivors fled abroad after the attempt on Saddam's life but had returned after his overthrow in 2003.
"Some of the people, who it was said at the time were executed because of their role in the assassination attempt against Saddam, came back to Iraq after the American occupation," he said.
"Some of them came from Iran, others came with American tanks," he added.
Saddam and seven co-defendants are accused of crimes against humanity for bloody reprisals that the prosecution says led to the deaths of 148 men and teenagers after the attempt on his life in Dujail, a mainly Shi'ite Muslim town north of Baghdad.
If convicted they face possible death by hanging.
One of the defense lawyers told the court one of their witnesses had been killed a few days ago but did not elaborate.