Trial Begins Today For Alleged Rape By Doctor Hussein

After-two works of jury selection and rulings on procedural motions, the long-awaited rape trial of Dr. Arif Hussein, a former resident at a Harvard-affiliated hospital, begins today.

"We went through over 500 jurors, and the overwhelming majority of them had heard information that would prejudice them." Michael Reilly, one of Hussein's lawyers, said yesterday.

Reilly said that many of the prospective jurors who were rejected had heard of Hussein's previous convictions with two other doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital for the gang rape of a nurse at a Rockport beach house in the summer of 1981. Hussein is currently charged with the rape of one woman and the sexual assault of another while they were under his care at the Waltham hospital in 1978.

Judge Andrew G. Meyer ruled last week that no mention of Hussein's previous conviction be made during the course of the trial.

Because of the extensive media coverage of the trial. Meyer decided to sequester the jury in the Woburn Ramada Inn until the end of the trial, which Reilly predicted would last three or four weeks.

The trial will get underway at 10 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m. at the Middlesex County courthouse.