BAGHDAD, Iraq – Saddam Hussein admitted for the first time yesterday that he had ordered the trial of 148 Shiite villagers who were executed after being implicated in an assassination attempt against him.

The courtroom admission came as the former Iraqi dictator also acknowledged confiscating their land and ordering the destruction of farms and orchards in reprisal for the attempt on his life in Dujail in 1982.

His surprise contribution to the trial came a day after prosecutors presented a presidential decree signed by Saddam that approved death sentences of the executed men, their most direct evidence against him so far.

Saddam also tried to shoulder full responsibility for the acts at the centre of the trial, which is widely expected to end with his execution.

He told the court that his seven co-defendants, including his half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, who with Saddam are facing charges of crimes against humanity for their role in the executions, should not be on trial. He insisted that he alone was responsible for what had been done.

“Why are you trying the others as well?” Saddam asked Judge Raouf Abd al-Rahman, as the judge was trying to adjourn the proceedings at the end of the day.

“Why am I saying it was me? Because I signed the decree. The incident happened against me. If I did not want to sign it, no one could have forced me to sign.”

Saddam described how the attackers opened fire on his car from 50 yards with heavy machine-guns, saying only Allah’s intervention had saved his life. His unprompted intervention was his first significant contribution to the trial since it began last year.

The court was shown papers documenting the condemnation and hanging of the 148 Shiites, and the transportation into the desert of their families, including babies as young as three months.

Some of the documents, and testimony from five witnesses, who made written submissions to the court, named Barzan, then the intelligence chief, and others among the defendants as having given orders or been involved in other ways.

But Saddam seemed determined to make it clear that only he called the shots.

“I was in charge. Just because things have changed, I’m not going to say others were responsible,” he said.

He argued that the executions and the bulldozing of the lands was lawful.

It was not immediately clear whether the admission, including statements that could be extended to cover many other cases being prepared against Saddam, would affect the course of the trial.