The trial of Saddam Hussein is in danger of collapsing because dozens of witnesses are refusing to testify against him after being told the former dictator had issued death threats from his cell. More than 40 people inside a special compound in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone had been due to give evidence of Saddam's alleged crimes against humanity.But his trial, in which he and seven others are accused of massacring 143 Shia men and youths from Dujail after a failed assassination attempt against him in 1982, was adjourned for 40 days, partly because the witnesses were unwilling to take the stand.
The belief that Saddam personally issued a threat to order a second act of mass murder in Dujail and to have the town razed afterwards illustrates the level of fear that the deposed president can still inspire among the subjects he oppressed for 25 years.
"We want Saddam to be held to account for his evil crimes and eagerly await the day when his lifeless body will swing from a rope," said Hatem, a farmer from Dujail whose brother Ali is one of the witnesses fearful to testify.
"There is almost nothing we won't do to hasten this day, but Saddam is very powerful. He has his agents everywhere. So when the message came that we would be liquidated if we took part in his trial we had to think of our families."
Some witnesses received calls on their mobile telephones in which a voice warned them: "Testify before the sham court and you will be signing your own death warrant. Dujail will be destroyed." After that, rumours spread through the town and soon it was being said that Saddam himself had ordered retribution via a coded communication from his cell.
The climate of fear surrounding the trial was heightened by the murder of a lawyer involved in it. Sadoun al-Janabi, who was acting for one of Saddam Hussein's co-defendants, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, a former judge, was seized by gunmen on Thursday and his body was found, shot in the head, the next day. Some of his colleagues are now asking for American protection after deciding that their Iraqi guards cannot be trusted.
Badie Izzat Aref, a lawyer for Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, said: "If they can't protect lawyers, how are they going to defend their clients, and how will witnesses dare to come before the tribunals?"
American officials said there was no possibility that Saddam could threaten prosecution witnesses from the confines of Camp Cropper, the facility near Baghdad Airport where he is held in isolation from other prisoners. "There is rampant paranoia about Saddam," one said. "He is a broken man who will soon be begging for his own life. All he thinks about now is himself and he has had no connection with the insurgency since we captured him in late 2003. I don't underestimate the evil that is inside him or the magnitude of his deeds. But as a tyrant, he is finished, impotent. And Iraqis need to realise this."
Last week, security was at an unprecedented level in Dujail, with cars having to drive through 17 separate checkpoints to get into the town. There were so many Iraqi and United States troops there that an attack would have been virtually impossible.
People were relaxed. On the day of the trial US military policemen danced with locals in the streets and took impromptu Arabic lessons. Posters pasted on walls declared "Death to Saddam" and "The hangman will deliver justice for Saddam".
The desire for vengeance was everywhere. Abu Raheem, 39, a supermarket owner, said: "If Saddam is not executed then we will take our revenge on his family, just as he punished us for the actions of our noble sons who tried to rid Iraq of this monster. His daughters may be in Jordan but we will seek them out. We are told that his wife is in Qatar. We will find her also."
American and Iraqi officials are confident that the witnesses will testify next month. Their identities may be kept secret, their evidence given from behind a screen. Afterwards they would probably be allowed to enter a witness protection scheme. Although even this might not be enough to make Hatem's brother Ali take the stand.
"The soldiers will leave our town one day soon," he said. "Then we will be left to pay the price for being chosen to be the accusers. Even if Saddam has gone, the Ba'athists will live on.
"It might not be this year or even next, but we know that he can have his revenge. He abused us for so long and our fear is he will continue to do this, even from his grave.
"Even if Saddam is dead, he will live on in our nightmares and in the dark side of our souls."
The Arab version of Life. There are Dictators, Relatives, Henchmen, Minions, and Victims. Each is born to his role. It cannot be changed. It is written. Dictators-in-waiting, see your personal The State Dept Rep. Future Killer Elites, follow me. Minions, seething is to the right. Victims, cowering to the left. Did everyone remember to bring a cell phone? Good. Giddyup, move along little doggies.