BAGHDAD, Iraq – After shouts, insults, arguments and walkouts, Saddam Hussein and three of his co-defendants unveiled a new show-stealing tactic Tuesday: They announced in court that they had gone on hunger strike.

Saddam said the strike was called to protest the tough way chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman has conducted the court since he took over last month.

“For three days we have been holding a hunger strike protesting against your way of treating us – against you and your masters,” the former Iraqi leader said. Their claims could not be independently confirmed.

Abdel-Rahman has tried to impose order in a court where outbursts and abuse, mostly by Saddam and his former intelligence chief and half brother Barzan Ibrahim, have often overshadowed the proceedings. The disruptions led to criticism of Abdel-Rahman’s predecessor, fellow Kurd Rizgar Mohammed Amin, for not doing enough to rein in the brothers.

But after a short period of shouting and verbal abuse at the start of Tuesday’s session, the court was calm as prosecutors tried for a second consecutive day to build their case of the ousted president’s direct role in executions and imprisonment of hundreds Shiites in the ’80s.

A key document presented to the court allegedly showed that Saddam approved rewards for intelligence agents involved in the crackdown against residents of Dujail, a mainly Shiite town north of Baghdad, following a 1982 assassination attempt against him there.

If convicted in the killing of nearly 150 Shiites from Dujail, Saddam and his seven co-defendants could face death by hanging.

Ibrahim spoke at length, denying he had any part in the crackdown and insisting he personally released detainees.

He spoke from the defendants’ pen, again wearing only his pajamas in protest at being forced to attend the trial.

But his orderly arguments represented the first time any of the defendants have dealt at length with the charges they face, and his participation could boost the legitimacy of a tribunal whose fairness some have questioned.

Judge Raid Juhi, a court spokesman who investigated the Dujail case, told reporters of Ibrahim’s attire: “You must have noticed that all the defendants wore appropriate attire. Defendant Barzan (Ibrahim) wore what he thought was appropriate.”

After nearly three hours of testimony, Abdel-Rahman adjourned the trial until Feb. 28.