Peep at Saddam's prison life

Iraq's human rights minister, Bakhtiar Amin, said Saddam's health was "generally good" but he was being treated for high blood pressure and had suffered a chronic prostate infection.

"One of the poems is about (US President) George Bush, but I had no time to read it," said Amin, a Kurd originally from Kirkuk, who had spent much of his life in exile in Europe and the United States.

"He is looking after a few bushes and shrubs and has even placed a circle of white stones around a small plum tree," he added.

Amin said he had met Saddam's half brother Barzan al-Tikriti who had tried to persuade him that he was not like Saddam's other strongmen captured by US-led forces.