Fast Facts: Timeline of Saddam Trial

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Key events to date in the trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants:

— June 17, 2005: First criminal case filed against Saddam and seven co-defendants, stemming from 1982 killings of more than 140 Shiite Muslims in Dujail, north of Baghdad.

— Oct. 19: Trial opens with an argumentative Saddam challenging legitimacy of the court. "Who are you? I want to know who you are," he tells chief judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, a Kurd. Court adjourns for five weeks.

— Oct. 20: Masked gunmen kidnap defense attorney Saadoun al-Janabi after he leaves his Baghdad office. His body is found the next day with bullet holes in the head.

— Nov. 8: Adel al-Zubeidi, lawyer for Saddam's co-defendant ex-Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, is killed in a Baghdad ambush and a colleague, Thamir al-Khuzaie, is wounded. Al-Khuzaie flees Iraq and asks for asylum in Qatar.

— Nov. 28: Trial reconvenes for a day, during which Saddam calls Americans "occupiers and invaders," and he and two other defendants complain about treatment by their U.S. captors. Trial adjourns until Dec. 5.

— Dec. 4: Court official says one of five judges has stepped down after learning one of the defendants may have been involved in his brother's execution.

— Dec. 5: Saddam trial resumes, but defense lawyers walk out when denied right to challenge court's legitimacy; chief judge then reverses itself and allows former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to speak.

— Dec. 6: Five witnesses testify, including a woman identified as "Witness A," who was 16 years old at the time of the Dujail crackdown and tells of beatings and electric shocks by the former president's agents.

— Dec. 7: Trial adjourns after a truncated session that Saddam refuses to attend, a day after yelling: "I will not come to an unjust court! Go to hell!"

— Dec 21: Saddam claims Americans beat and "tortured" him and other defendants and prays openly in court despite judge's order for trial to proceed.

— Dec. 22: Investigating judge says he saw no evidence to verify Saddam's claims he was beaten while in U.S. custody.

— Jan. 15, 2005: Chief judge Amin submits resignation after complaints by politicians and officials that he failed to control court proceedings.

— Jan. 23: Court officials name Raouf Rasheed Abdel-Rahman, another Kurd, to replace Amin. Amin's deputy, Saeed al-Hammash, is also replaced amid accusations he belonged to Saddam's former ruling Baath Party. Al-Hammash denies claims.

— Jan. 24: Trial's scheduled resumption abruptly postponed for five days amid confusion over new judges and absence of witnesses.