The genocide trial of the ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and six of his aides adjourned yesterday until next Tuesday after hearing three witnesses.

"The court has decided to adjourn until Oct. 17," said chief judge Muhammad al-Ureybi, without giving the reason for his decision.

On Wednesday's session, Judge Ureybi switched off the microphone of defendants as Saddam was arguing with the judge about Tuesday's session, during which Saddam was ordered out.

Complaining about the cutoff, Saddam heckled the judge, "When the complainer and prosecutor talk, the world listens. When the so-called defendant speaks, you switch off the microphone. Is this fair?"

Judge Ureybi replied, "I switched off the microphone to keep order in the courtroom."

"You can talk if you want to defend yourself, but not to get into the political maze," he added.

After the argument, the court summoned the first witness Abdul Khaliq Aziz, who accused Saddam's intelligence (Mukhabarat) of doing white slaver when they allegedly sent 18 Kurdish women to Egyptian intelligence to sell them to nightclubs.

"According to an article published by Kurdish newspaper after the collapse of Saddam's regime. I learned that my sister and 17 women, were sent in 1989 by Iraqi intelligence to its Egyptian counterpart to be sold to nightclubs there," Abdul Khaliq Aziz told the court in the 15th session.

Aziz presented a document allegedly issued by local Mukhabarat of Kirkuk City, in which names of 18 women were listed, including his sister and 14 of his relatives in his village.

A court-appointed lawyer questioned the authenticity of the document, saying "we may see a formal letter of selling a house or property, but we haven't heard of a formal letter of selling women,besides how come does the Egyptian intelligence trade such things with night clubs of private sector."

The witness said that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani tackled the issue with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who denied the allegation.

Two more witnesses also took the stand on Wednesday session, claiming torture and rape crimes against the Kurdish detainees in the Saddam's detentions.

The second witness was a female who said that she was tortured when she was detained in Nuqrat al-Salman in southwestern Iraq desert and that her four-year-old son died there after drinking poisoned water.

The third witness Fakhriyah Muhammad Baba, who is also a female,said that she was detained and transferred to Nuqrat al-Salman where she was tortured and raped along with several women detainees.

Baba made her complaints against Saddam, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid and all their aides, as well as a man named Hajaj, who she said tortured her during detention and forced several other detainees to dance in front of the guards or imitate animals' sounds.

Saddam and his codefendants face charge of genocide for their role in Anfal (Spoils of War) military campaign against Iraq's Kurds in the 1980s, which the chief prosecutor said left some 182,000 people dead or missing.

Saddam is also awaiting a possible death sentence verdict for a separate case involving killing of some 148 Shiites.

All the main charges in Anfal carry death penalty.