(April 5, 2006)—Saddam Hussein said under cross-examination Wednesday in Baghdad that he approved death sentences for Shiites in the 1980s because he believed evidence proved they had been involved in an attempt to assassinate him.

Standing alone as the sole defendant, Saddam again called the court "illegitimate."

He also bickered with the chief judge and accused the current Shiite-led Interior Ministry of killing and torturing thousands of Iraqis.

The session came just a day after prosecutors indicted Saddam on separate charges of genocide, accusing him of involvement in a 1980's campaign to exterminate Kurds.