"In the court of (judge) Abdullah al-Ameri, Saddam felt free and wanted to trespass the prosecutor, witnesses and the lawyers," said Falak al-din Kakaie, minister of culture in the Kurdish administration of northern Iraq.

Ameri was removed as chief judge by the government Tuesday after saying Saddam was "not a dictator".

"Mr. Judge ... If Saddam was not a dictator, who was he then?" Kakaie asked Ameri in an article in Khabat al-Naval, the mouthpiece of Kurdistan Democratic Party -- the dominant Kurdish party in Arbil.

Ameri was removed from the trial for his cordinal exchange with Saddam in a session last week during which he said to the former Iraqi strongman, "You were not a dictator", and suggested that it was the people close to him who made him look like one.

"When the judge told Saddam courteously that he was not a dictator ... thus announcing his support to him, it means that it is the Iraqi people who are dictators and that Saddam was not a dictator," said Fuad Hussain, a top official in the Kurdish administration.

"Ameri was taking the court in a wrong direction. We believe the decision to change him was correct and hope that the victims shall not become the accused in this court."

A Kurdish writer, Ahmed Maronsi, too questioned Ameri's ability.

"We have never heard or seen in all our lives a judge chairing a court discussing such a serious issue (who) lacks knowledge of the case."

On Wednesday, Mohammed al-Oriebi al-Khalifah, a Shiite who was deputy presiding judge, took over as the new chief judge.

In the first few minutes of the opening of the session, Khalifah ordered Saddam removed from the court when he complained about his appointment.

The defence team also walked out in protest.

Saddam and six of his colleagues face charges including genocide and are accused of spearheading a military campaign in 1987-1988 against the Kurds that killed 182,000 people. They face the death penalty if found guilty.