In some of the strongest testimony so far, a female prosecution witness told the court she was stripped naked in jail, hung by her hands, beaten and given electric shocks.

The court heard how, during the woman's interrogation, Barzan Ibrahim - Saddam's half brother and former head of the Mukhabarat intelligence agency - told the prison guards to hang her by her feet, then he kicked her three times in the chest.

"I told him [Ibrahim], 'for God's sake, I'm a woman.  I have nothing to confess, why are you doing this to me?'," she said, weeping.

She was one of five witnesses to testify yesterday.  All did so from behind a beige curtain to protect their identities.

Chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman, who took over last week amid concerns the former judge had been too lenient on Saddam's courtroom outbursts, proceeded yesterday at a rapid pace.  He took advantage of the calm in a courtroom that has been debased by Saddam's shouting, scuffles, and abuse since the trial began on October 19.

The judge appointed a new defence team, and the three defendants who accepted the lawyers sat quietly for most of the proceedings, surrounded by empty chairs left by Saddam and the others.

The boycotting defence team has petitioned the court to remove Judge Abdel-Rahman, a Kurd, saying they will not attend until he goes.  They accuse him of having a "personal feud" with Saddam because he was born in Halabja, a Kurdish village hit by poison gas attack ordered by Saddam in 1988 where 5,000 villagers perished.