BAGHDAD, Iraq – The trial of Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants adjourned yesterday until January 24, completing a day of testimony in which an investigating judge said officials never saw evidence verifying Saddam’s claims he was beaten while in American custody.

American officials denied Saddam’s allegations as “completely unfounded.” Saddam, in turn, denounced those denials as “lies” and said “the marks are still there.”

Six witnesses testified during the two-day session that started Wednesday. Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiites after a 1982 attempt on Saddam’s life in the town of Dujail.

In a theatrical exchange, an assistant prosecutor asked to resign and the defense team threatened to walk out. Saddam also mocked President Bush’s claims that Iraq had chemical weapons.

When the court gave the former leader an opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, Saddam used the time to expand on assertions he had been abused in custody. He claimed that the wounds he suffered had been documented by at least two American teams.

Yesterday, Saddam said American denials that he was beaten could not be believed, noting that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq despite Mr. Bush’s pre-war claims. Judge Raid al-Juhi told reporters that neither the defendants nor their lawyers had ever complained about beatings.

The first witness to testify yesterday spoke from behind a curtain and had his voice disguised. He said he was 8 years old during the killings in Dujail. He said his grandmother, father, and uncles had been arrested and tortured, and he never saw his male relatives again, implying they had been killed.

Saddam said the court should not depend on the testimony of witnesses who were children at the time of the alleged crime.