BERLIN, Sept 26: A German television network said on Thursday it had made a scientific study of 450 photographs of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and concluded there are at least three doubles posing as the Iraqi president.

The ZDF public television network, working with a German coroner, said it took the photographs and film clips of Saddam which it had in its archives and used facial recognition technology to determine that men said to be him were lookalikes.

“In the film sequences since 1998 only the doubles appear,” said Dieter Buhmann, a Homburg coroner. “He himself has not been seen again.”

ZDF said in a news report and statement on its Web site (www.heute.t-online.de) ahead of the broadcast of its findings later on Thursday that “a scientific investigation proved that the 65-year-old ruler allows at least three doubles to replace him at official appearances”.

ZDF said it was difficult to tell which were the doubles and which was the real Saddam Hussein.

“They have apparently undergone surgery to appear to look like the statesman,” ZDF said. “The doubles have mastered Saddam’s gestures and perfectly mimic Saddam, with only tiny details separating them from the real Saddam Hussein.”—Reuters