BAGHDAD, Dec 16: Preparations to put Saddam Hussein on trial intensified on Thursday with a first meeting between the ousted Iraqi president and a member of the defence team appointed by his family.

But even as the special tribunal set up to prosecute his government confirmed it was poised to begin hearings, a senior official revealed that Saddam Hussein himself would be the last to be hauled into the dock.

Defence counsel said the Iraqi leader had appeared well during the four-hour interview, granted a year after his capture by US troops near his hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

"The president seems in good health, much better compared to his first appearance before the court," said a statement issued in Amman by the legal team appointed by his wife and daughters.

Saddam Hussein and 11 senior aides appeared in court in July for the first time since their capture to hear preliminary charges of crimes against humanity. Censored footage of the hearings was later released by the US military.

A spokesman for the defence team gave a guarded welcome to the fact that they had finally been allowed to see Saddam in his holding cell in a US base at Baghdad airport.

"It's a good thing but it is one of the rights of the defence to meet their client," Ziad al Khassawanat said. The lawyers, who have throughout challenged the legality of the planned trials, had been pressing to see Saddam for months and complained vigorously that they had not been allowed to attend interrogations of their client.

The Iraq Special Tribunal, established by the US-led administration last December, confirmed on Thursday that it was ready to begin proceedings. "The Iraqi Special Tribunal will be starting investigative hearings for the senior leadership of the former regime, in coordination with international observers," a statement said.

It gave no precise start date, but the British embassy in Baghdad said that the first hearing would open next week, a timetable it warmly welcomed. "Those accused of crimes must be brought to justice," said embassy spokeswoman Victoria Whitford.

"It is important not only that justice is done but that justice is seen to be done, so Iraqis can come to terms with their past," she said, adding that Britain had given 1.3 million pounds (2.4 million dollars) in financial assistance for the trials.

The minister criticized the decision to bring forward the first hearings to before landmark polls set for Jan 30, saying it would have been better to await the legitimacy of an elected government.

"Trials that are so symbolic of the leaders of the ex-regime should have been opened after a legitimate Iraqi government was created by the ballot box, that is to say after the elections," said Hassan.

He added that he would also have preferred that the trials be delayed until after the withdrawal of US-led troops. The landmark meeting between Saddam Hussein and his lawyer came after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) cancelled planned talks with his defence team. -AFP