Saddam and six of his co-defendants are facing genocide charges for killing tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds in 1988, known as anti-Kurdish Anfal case (Spoils of War).

At the beginning of Wednesday's session, the chief prosecutor asked the chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri, a Shiite, to resign, alleging he was biased toward the defendants.

Saddam, who is awaiting a possible death sentence verdict for a separate case involving the killing of some 148 Shiite countrymen in the village of Dujail following a failed assassination attempt against Saddam near the village in 1982.

All the main charges in Anfal could carry the death penalty.