GENEVA, Dec 14: The once-secret location where ousted president Saddam Hussein is being detained is Camp Cropper, a US base near Baghdad's international airport, Iraq's Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said Tuesday.
"Yes it is Camp Cropper," Amin told reporters, referring to the heavily fortified compound that forms part of a vast US army complex called Camp Victory, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) from the centre of the Iraqi capital.
Speaking the day after the first anniversary of Saddam's capture, Amin said the former president was eating well and had gained weight. "He is in good health," the minister told a news conference in Geneva, where he is attending a meeting with donor countries, UN agencies and other advocacy groups to discuss human rights activities in Iraq.
"He is eating very well and has gained five pounds," said the minister, who paid Saddam a visit in September. In contrast, eight of 11 other detainees, who along with Saddam are awaiting trial for crimes against humanity, temporarily refused food from Friday in what a lawyer said was a protest against the denial of their prisoner rights.
But they had started eating again on Monday, the US army said. For his part, Saddam had been given blood tests for a chronic prostate condition, which tested negative for cancer, but he has refused a biopsy to confirm the result beyond a doubt, Amin said.
To keep a close check on his health, the 67-year-old receives a medical visit twice a day, he said, adding that unlike many pele in Iraq, Saddam also has 24-hour-a-day electricity. But family members are forbidden to visit him. -AFP
