BAGHDAD, June 26 (AFP) - 18h42 - The Iraqi court charged with trying ousted leader Saddam Hussein on Sunday released footage of six of his lieutenants being interrogated about alleged crimes against Kurds.The moved comes four days after Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari blamed judges on the court for the delay in trying Saddam, who has been in US custody since December 2003.

Earlier this month, the tribunal released similar footage of Saddam himself and more than a dozen of his top aides being interrogated by the Iraqi Special Tribunal over alleged crimes against humanity.

Among those questioned last Monday were two of Saddam's half-brothers Barzan and Watban Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti as well as the commander of the former paramilitary Quds Army, Iyad Futaih Khalifa, a statement from the Iraqi Special Tribunal said.

The Tikritis were questioned individually about the alleged killing and deportation of Faili Kurds, who follow the Shiite sect of Islam, according to the statement which accompanied the voice-less footage.

Khalifa and two former Baath party senior leaders -- Mohammed Zumam Abdelrazaq and Latif Nasif Jasim -- were questioned separately about "ethnic cleansing operations in Kirkuk," the statement added.

Khalifa and Mohsen Khodr Abbas, another senior Baathist, were also questioned separately about the "events of 1991," the statement said, referring to Saddam's brutal repression of a Shiite uprising during the first Gulf war.

The demographic make-up of the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk was altered by Saddam's policy of settling Sunni Arabs there in the 1980s in place of Kurds and other minorities.

Saddam and his deputies are also accused of mass murder crimes against Kurds like the gassing of almost 5,000 villagers in Halabja in 1988.

The tribunal said the questioning of the six took place in the presence of the investigating judges, prosecutors and the defense lawyer.

"We ask the sons of the oppressed Iraqi nation of all ethnicities and sects to support the tribunal and to give it their vote of confidence in order to defeat those who are trying to undermine its work," said the tribunal.

"We also ask everyone to refer to the statements of the court as the only official source and everything else as just guessing."

The tribunal, which was formed under the previous US-led occupation, has already released several videotapes of the questioning of Saddam and more than a dozen of his deputies since the start of June.

Many critics and legal experts have questioned the independence and qualification of the tribunal to try Saddam and the other former regime elements.

They say the video releases were aimed at appeasing many members Jaafari's Shiite-dominated government who have complained about the delay in trying Saddam.

Saddam's half-brother Barzan, his former vice president Taha Yasin Ramadan and three others were referred to trial at the end of February for the 1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, a village northeast of Baghdad.

In the latest footage, Barzan wearing a light-blue jumpsuit, appeared anxious, unshaven and disheveled. His brother Watban also appeared unshaven in a light-blue jumpsuit.

All six were seen signing and dating statements handed to them by the judge.