Lawyers' fears for Saddam health

Saddam Hussein has reportedly refused to undergo a biopsy

Lawyers for Saddam Hussein have asked for access to him following concerns about the former Iraqi leader's health.

Saddam Hussein's legal team wants to send an independent doctor to check on his health after reports he suffered a minor stroke while in prison.

Those reports have been denied by the US military holding him in Iraq.

Lawyer Mohammed Rashdan said the uncertainty showed the need for the defence lawyers to be allowed to send their own doctor into the prison.

A US army spokesman told AP news agency: "Saddam did not have a stroke, and he is not dead."

The Iraqi Human Rights Minister, Bakhtiar Amin, said the 67-year-old former leader had a prostate infection but was otherwise in good health.

Weight loss

Mr Amin told al-Jazeera television that the detainee had refused to undergo a biopsy to rule out cancer.

He said X-ray and blood tests proved negative for cancer, but added that officials had sought a biopsy to be safe.

Saddam Hussein has been held by US officials at an undisclosed location in Iraq since his capture last December.

Officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - the only neutral body with access to Saddam Hussein - have visited him in prison at least twice.

But so far his legal team has not even been allowed into Iraq.

An ICRC spokesman said he had no information about a downturn in the prisoner's health.

The spokesman said he had lost weight after following a diet and was spending his time reading the Koran, writing poetry and tending a garden.

With a trial still many months away, Mr Rashdan - Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer - made it clear the lawyers plan to challenge the whole process, as well as denying all the allegations against their client.