premise: He and his seven deputies, who have pleaded not guilty, face the death penalty by hanging if convicted over the killings, which followed an assassination bid against Iraq's former strongman during a visit to the town.
  The trial has been plagued by a range of problems since its inception, most notably serious security issues.
  Two defence lawyers have been killed and Iraqi security forces said Sunday they foiled an insurgent group's plot to fire rockets at the court building.
  At a marathon session on Monday, Saddam insisted he was unafraid of execution as the court was subjected to tearful accounts of murder and torture -- including the use of a meat grinder and electric shocks -- from one witness.
  "I am not afraid of being executed" if found guilty, Saddam vowed, after an earlier outburst in which he shouted, "Long live Iraq."
   What does the conviction over the killings imply?
hypothesis: found guilty