|
Saddam to grandson: 'Be a man'
03/08/2004 08:05 - (SA)
|
|
|
 |
|
| Saddam Hussein appears in a courtroom at Camp Victory, a former Saddam palace on the outskirts of Baghdad, on July 1. (Karen Ballard, AP) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baghdad, Iraq - Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein sent a letter to his grandson in Jordan telling him to be strong and care for his family, according to Al-Arabiya television on Monday.
The letter, delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross, was addressed to Ali Hussein al-Majeed and was the second received by his family since Saddam was detained last year.
"He asked me to take care of my family and to keep the family's reputation anywhere and at any time," al-Majeed told Al-Arabiya. "He recommends that I be a man, like my father and uncle, a man who can be trusted, and also to be the man of the family."
Saddam ordered al-Majeed's father, Hussein Kamel, and al-Majeed's uncle Saddam Kamel killed in 1996 on suspicion of passing information concerning Iraq's weapons programmes to Western officials.
Al-Majeed said the letter was delivered on Monday, three months after the date written on it.
Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said on Monday that Saddam's health was not worrisome despite his previously reported prostate infection. Saddam also has high blood pressure, but is taking medication for that, Amin said.
"There are doctors who are seeing Saddam twice a day," he told Al-Jazeera television. "Saddam is in good health. His food is good, he is sleeping well."
Saddam was being held at Camp Cropper at Baghdad International Airport, which has about 96 other detainees in it, he said. He does not have contact with the other prisoners, but goes out about three hours a day into a yard that has some herbs in it, Amin said.
- AP
|
.jpg)
