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| Monday, 23 February 2004 |
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Saddam gets Red Cross visit, writes family letter BAGHDAD, Sunday (Reuters) Red Cross officials visited Saddam Hussein for the first time since U.S. forces captured him in December and said they would pass on a letter he wrote for his daughters. But the InternationaI Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) declined to give any details on the health or detention conditions of the former Iraqi president in keeping with its usual practice when visiting prisoners. "He's detained in Iraq," the ICRC's spokesman in neighbouring Jordan, Muin Kassis, said after the visit by a team that included a doctor and an Arabic speaker. "(The team) spent enough time with the former Iraqi president where they were able to have a good comprehensive idea about the material conditions of the detention place and also about his health condition," said Kassis. He said the meeting with Saddam, 66, took place in private and no representative from the U.S.-led administration in Iraq was present. "We insist on having a meeting in privacy," said Kassis, adding there would be more visits to Saddam but no date had been set for the next one. He said Saddam, who has three daughters, wrote to them on a "special form...used everywhere by prisoners of war and detained persons, where the person could write...news to reassure family members of his health condition, of his situation". "Our delegates will definitely make sure that the family of the former president will receive the Red Cross message as soon as possible," said Kassis. Under the terms of the Geneva Convention covering prisoners of war, which Washington has said applies to Saddam, U.S. forces were obliged to give the ICRC access to the former president. |
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