Tabloid Runs More Hussein Photos

A British tabloid Saturday published more surreptitious photographs of Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody, a day after it ran a front-page picture of the former Iraqi leader in his underwear.

The Red Cross, which is responsible for monitoring prisoners of war and detainees, said the photos violated Hussein’s right to privacy. The U.S. military has condemned the publication and ordered an investigation of how the pictures had been leaked.

Saturday’s pictures included one of Hussein wearing a white Arab robe, seen through barbed wire. Another showed Hussein’s cousin Ali Hassan Majid -- the ex-general known as Chemical Ali for his role in poison gas attacks against Iraqi Kurds -- in a dark robe and holding a towel.

The Sun also ran photos of Majid and Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a researcher who allegedly tried to develop biological weapons for Iraq.

Media coverage varied across the Arab world. Iraqi newspaper Al Mutamar ran a small front-page picture of the Sun’s cover with Hussein in his underwear alongside a short story. London-based newspaper Azzaman published a larger spread featuring the same front page.

Al Arabiya television aired footage of the photographs from the newspaper’s Friday and Saturday editions, though Al Jazeera television did not, citing ethical and professional reasons.

The photos were splashed on the front pages of newspapers in Kuwait, where Hussein is despised for his 1990 invasion.

A member of Hussein’s legal team, Giovanni di Stefano, said the Sun also had acquired a 26-second video of Hussein. He said he had not seen the footage.

Hussein has been jailed at a complex near the Baghdad airport since his capture in December 2003. Access is limited to U.S. soldiers guarding him, his legal team, the prosecuting judge and the International Committee for the Red Cross, which monitors his treatment for compliance with the Geneva Convention.

“Taking and using photographs of him is clearly forbidden,” said ICRC Middle East spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas.