The intriguing glimpse of the former dictator's daily routine as he awaits trial on charges of war crimes and genocide was given to the Guardian yesterday by Iraq's human rights minister, Bakhtiar Amin, who visited Saddam in detention last Saturday.

Amin, a longtime Iraqi human rights campaigner who had family members killed by the former regime, said he could not bring himself to speak to Saddam but observed that he was "in good health and being kept in good conditions."

However, Amin said the former president "appeared demoralized and dejected."

Poor health

But one of Saddam Hussein's lawyers has said that the deposed Iraqi president has suffered a stroke and expressed concern that he could die even before his trial.

Saddam's lawyers are still trying to get permission to see him. They said on Wednesday, they had received information from the Red Cross that his health has majorly deteriorated.

Jordanian lawyer Mohammed al-Rashdan, one of an international team of lawyers preparing to defend Saddam, told British daily The Mirror that a brain scan had indicated the stroke.

"We understand from the International Committee of the Red Cross that our client has had a brain scan to discover how badly he has been affected by the stroke," al-Rashdan was quoted as saying.

"We believe he could die because of his health problems. We also think an attempt may be made on his life."

Saddam's defense team, which includes former Dundee director Giovanni di Stefano, is demanding that their own doctor be allowed to see Saddam.

Al-Rashdan also claimed that Saddam had been suffering from "a number of headaches" and "has had a heart problem of some kind."

Al-Rashdan also argued that under the Geneva Convention, the defense team was entitled access to Saddam. But, all requests have been ignored, he said.

Rashdan said: "I think President Bush and Prime Minister Blair would be happier if he died from ill health. Then the problem would go away."

Saddam is being held in a white-walled air-conditioned cell, three meters wide and four meters long, Amin said. He is kept apart from the other prisoners, who can mix freely with each other during the daily three-hour exercise periods.

Since appearing in court, Saddam had taken to reading the Koran and writing poetry, Amin said. "One of the poems is about George Bush, but I had no time to read it."

Saddam's health was "generally good" but he was being treated for high blood pressure and had suffered a chronic prostate infection for which he had received antibiotics. The former president had refused a biopsy to test for signs of cancer.

Amin said Saddam "was regaining weight again" after a self-imposed diet in which he "resisted all fatty foods and had lost 5 kilograms."

Like the other high-value detainees, Saddam's day begins with a substantial breakfast, an MRE (meal ready to eat), which provides 1,300 calories. He also gets hot food twice a day, which could consist of rice or potato and broccoli, along with either fish, beef or chicken. For dessert, there might be oranges, apples, pears or plums, but the former leader has developed a penchant for American snacks such as muffins and cookies.

There is regular access to showers and a barber, and a personal grooming kit that includes soaps, toothpaste, comb, shampoo and deodorant, and plastic sandals.

For relaxation there are no newspapers, TV or radio, but there are 145 books - mainly novels and travel books - donated by the Red Cross, which visits the detainees every six weeks.

Amin said Saddam works out in his cell and then uses the daily exercise period to tend a small garden in an outside yard.

"He is looking after a few bushes and shrubs and has even placed a circle of white stones around a small palm tree," said Amin, a Kurd from Kirkuk, who is the first member of Iraq's new interim government to visit Saddam. "His apparent care for his surroundings is ironic when you think he was responsible for one of the biggest ecocides when he drained the southern marshes."

In televised proceedings on July 1, Saddam and 11 other former regime members were arraigned in a Baghdad courtroom on charges that include killing rival politicians, gassing Kurds in Halabja, invading Kuwait and suppressing Kurdish and Shia uprisings in 1991.

Amin said the prisoners were technically under Iraqi jurisdiction but would remain at the US military prison until Iraqi authorities are ready to take physical custody of them.

US and Iraqi officials have said that the former president has not provided extensive information during interrogation. Some of Saddam's aides have been more co-operative. They include Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, who reportedly gave the orders to use chemical weapons against Kurds in the late 1980s; Hussein's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti; as well as Hussein's influential personal secretary, Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti.

(China Daily July 31, 2004)