A top aide allegedly told Saddam Hussein in a phone conversation in the 1980s that he intended to "change the social reality" in a Shia town where the former Iraqi leader came under an attack, according to a tape played today by prosecutors in Saddam's trial.
Taha Yassin Ramadan — a co-defendant in the trial — allegedly said "suspicious elements" in Dujail would be moved out and "replacements" brought in.
In the tape, a voice said to be Saddam's replied, "Fine."
Prosecutors played the tape in a Baghdad court today in the trial of Saddam and seven of his former regime members over a crackdown launched in Dujail after the former Iraqi leader's motorcade was shot at in July 1982.
Hundreds were arrested in the sweep, some allegedly tortured, and 148 were killed.
One defendant, Barzan Ibrahim, denounced the tape as a fake, and the defence stepped up its attempts to cast doubt on a series of documents prosecutors have presented to show Saddam and his co-defendants' role in the sweep against Dujail.
Top defence lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi demanded prosecutors give more detail on how the documents — including memos from Saddam's office and Ibrahim's Mukhabarat intelligence agency — were obtained and repeated his call for international handwriting experts to check signatures.
A team of Iraqi experts have authenticated Saddam's and other signatures on the documents in the past two sessions. But today, a report by the team read to the court questioned signatures purported to be those of one defendant, Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid.
AP