The anonymous witness said he was a teenager in Dujail in 1982 when an attempt on Saddam's life led to what the prosecution has termed a massive crackdown on the village, hundreds of arrests and the execution of 148 people.

"The prosecutor said they were executed, but I am telling you I ate with them some time ago" and that 23 of them were alive, said the witness, who had worked at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison in the mid-1980s.

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"Many of them have gotten rich and occupy powerful positions," he said, as he testified from behind a curtain, going on to write down the names for the judge.

"If it is true and these people are still alive, this whole case should be reconsidered from the beginning," said the lawyer for Awad al-Bandar, whose revolutionary court under Saddam sentenced the men to death in 1984.

Saddam and seven associates are on trial for crimes against humanity stemming from the arrests, torture and execution of Dujail villagers as well as the destruction of their property.

The witness charged that the whole case was fabricated.

At a July 2004 gathering in Dujail, "someone came and asked for witnesses, saying the Iranians will thank them and if they don't have the necessary documents he could forge them," he said.

The witness claimed that the man was chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mussawi. The prosecutor issued a prompt rebuttal of the allegations.

But Dubai-based news channel Al- Arabiya broadcast Tuesday a video showing Mussawi in Dujail together with one of the prosecution witnesses at an event commemorating the killings.

Throughout the trial, the defense has claimed that the complainant witnesses against the ousted president and his co- defendants were coached and induced to testify. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE