The court also unveiled the names of those who will be tried alongside Saddam over the 1982 massacre of 143 people in the Shiite village of Dujail following an attempt on his life there.

Those to be tried with Saddam are ex-vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's half-brother and former intelligence boss Barzan Ibrahim al-Hassan and a former deputy chief in Saddam's cabinet, Awad Ahmad al-Bandar.

The other four - Abdullah Khadem Ruweid, Mezhar Abdullah Ruweid, Ali Daeh and Mohammed Azzam al-Ali - are former ruling Baath party officials responsible for the Dujail area, where the massacre happened.

The eight face the death penalty if found guilty.

A court source said on Sunday that five judges have been chosen for the much-anticipated trial.

Saddam's Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi has been requesting a delay, claiming that the defence had not been informed about the trial date and had not given it full access to Saddam himself or full details of the charges against him.

View of farm house compound where Saddam was capyure by U.S. soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division during a raid, in Tikrit, north of Baghdad on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2003.
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