Saddam 'depressed' in solitary, claims Iraq's human rights minister

Saddam Hussein appears depressed and demoralised in solitary confinement, spending his time writing poetry, tending a garden and reading the Quran, it was claimed today.

Bakhtiar Amin, the human rights minister in the new Iraqi government, said he had visited Saddam’s cell on Saturday, although he did not speak to the former Iraqi leader.