The accused, all dressed in traditional clothes except Saddam who wore a crisp, black suit, came to the court and sat down quietly, an AFP correspondent reported.

The hearing came amid fears of fresh outbreak of communal bloodshed in Iraq after two bombs left eight killed in Baghdad, a day after a spate of bombings left 64 dead.

Iraqi prosecutors on Tuesday submitted to the court trying Saddam what they said was an execution order signed by the former Iraqi dictator, as his lawyers stormed out of the tribunal.

A few minutes after the new session began, chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi detailed the documents again but was interrupted by Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother.

"The prosecutor should stop referring to the people killed in Dujail as victims as the case is not proved yet," Barzan retorted.

Documents were presented linking Saddam to the trial and execution of 148 villagers from Dujail, north of Baghdad, in some of the most significant documentary evidence to have been presented by the prosecution so far.

Saddam's lead lawyers, Dulaimi and Khamis Ubaydi, had walked out of the courtroom at the start of Tuesday's hearing after the judge rejected their pleas for proceedings to be postponed and for the judge and chief prosecutor to be dismissed for alleged bias against the accused.