BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Saddam Hussein testified yesterday for the first time at his trial, calling on Iraqis to stop a bloody wave of sectarian violence and instead fight American troops, prompting the chief judge to close the courtroom, saying he was making political speeches.

Even as the judge repeatedly yelled at him to stop, Saddam read from a prepared text, insisting he was still Iraq’s president.

“Let the (Iraqi) people unite and resist the invaders and their backers. Don’t fight among yourselves,” he said, praising the insurgency. “In your resistance to the invasion by the Americans and Zionists and their allies, you were great. You were great in my eyes and you remain so.”

Finally chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered the session to continue in secret, telling journalists to leave the chamber. The video and audio broadcast of the trial was cut off.

During the 90-minute closed portion of the session, Saddam finished reading his speech, at times arguing with Abdel-Rahman, a person close to the trial said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the judge had placed a gag order on the proceedings.

Angered by the closing of the session, Saddam said he wanted to help end the killings in Iraq. “I am trying to extinguish the fire with few drops of water,” he said, sparking more shouting with the judge, according the person close to the trial.

When reporters were allowed back in, Saddam was sitting alone in the defendants’ pen in front of the judge. He then refused to answer questions from the chief prosecutor, demanding to see a copy of his testimony given to investigators before the trial began. The prosecution agreed to the demand and said they would question Saddam in the next session.

Abdel-Rahman then adjourned the trial until April 5.