A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross, including a doctor, has visited former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in detention for the fourth time, the organisation said Tuesday.
"A team from the ICRC, including a doctor, visited Saddam Hussein on July 30," ICRC Baghdad spokeswoman Nada Doumani told AFP.
She refused to be drawn on the state of Saddam's health, after Iraqi Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said the deposed strongman was suffering from a chronic prostrate infection, a hernia and high blood pressure.
"We do not give details on the health of detainees that we visit, but we can confirm that he is under the medical care of the penitentiary authorities".
Saddam, 67, used the visit to write a message to his family - his only means of communicating with his relatives who live in exile.
"His family has already received a message from him and we are going to pass on three others today. That will take time because they always have to go through a military censor," Doumani said.
Saddam, arrested by US troops in December 2003 and held at a secret location under US protection, has already received four messages from his relatives. On July 1, he appeared before an Iraqi court and was charged with committing "crimes against humanity".