World TV channels started to show the first footage of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appearing at a court hearing on Thursday.

Handcuffed and escorted by guards, a defiant Saddam was brought into a courtroom. After his arrival at the room, his handcuffs were removed.

Dressed decently in a tieless suit, the 67-year-old former president still held his defiance. "I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq," he declared, saying even the invaders in Iraq could not deprive him of this title.

However, the trimmed but grizzled beard and a much thinner countenance revealed his haggardness.

This is the first time Saddam appeared before the world since he was captured hiding in a hole in his hometown Tikrit in December 2003.

He was charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during his presidency in Iraq, said the Iraqi Special Tribunal.

Alternating between listening and gesticulating to the judge, Saddam mocked the court as "theatre". "This is all theatre. The real criminal is Bush," he derided.

When talking about Iraq's invasion into neighboring Kuwait, Saddam justified his decision as defending the Iraqi people from "those dogs", a term referring to Kuwaitis and rebuked by the judge.

He refused to sign a statement acknowledging that he had been charged and read his rights.

When told he could seek legal counsel, the deposed leader defied "everyone says, the Americans say, I have millions of dollars stashed away in Geneva. Why shouldn't I afford a lawyer?"

During the 30-minute arraignment, Saddam wrote down on a notebook for several times and remained calm.

His first public hearing took place at Camp Victory, a lavish complex previously used by Saddam as a palace on the outskirts in Baghdad.

The hearing came after the end of his status as prisoner of war.

Saddam, together with another 11 top aides, was handed over to Iraqi custody on Wednesday, two days after sovereignty was formally remitted to the Iraqi interim government.

Iraqi Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan said Thursday that death penalty would be applied to Saddam Hussein if he was convicted of crimes he was accused of.

The interim government has decided to reinstate death penalty, which was suspended during the US occupation, according to President Ghazi Yawar.