"You are a defendant, I am the judge," said Judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifa as he ordered Saddam to leave the court room after the ousted Iraqi leader ignored orders to keep silent.

Saddam left the court room with a smile on his face. In the past two sessions, he was ejected for similar reasons.

The ejection angered his six co-defendants, who demanded to leave as well.

"Get Saddam out and put the others back in their seats," Judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifa ordered the court bailiffs.

Former Iraqi military commander Sultan Hashim Ahmed al-Tai was the most vocal of the defendants, refusing to sit down and continuing to shout and wave his finger at the judge.

"Don't raise your voice at me, you are the defendant," the judge said before also ejecting Hashim from court.

The other defendants renewed their demands to leave, led by the former deputy of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, who declared: "This is rude, you should be responsible."

Khalifa then announced a one hour recess. The judge gave no explanation for his decision to resume after the recess without any of the defendants present.

The trial has been plagued with problems since the Iraqi government's decision to remove former presiding judge Abdallah al-Ameri on the grounds he was too lenient with the defense.

In the following session on September 20, the defense lawyers protested this move and walked out of the proceedings, sparking protests by defendants who did not want to be represented by court-appointed lawyers.

When Saddam himself loudly contested the change, he was ejected by the judge, a pattern that would repeat itself in the subsequent two sessions.

Khalifah began Tuesday's session with a stern warning to Saddam to behave himself during the trial and not speak out of turn.

"You are a defendant here, you have rights and also obligations. You can defend yourself, question witnesses," said the judge. "And I am ready to allow you, but this is a court, not a political arena.