The International Committee of the Red Cross visited Saddam Hussein today for the first time since the former Iraqi leader was captured by US troops in December, an ICRC spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman in Geneva said the visit took place in Iraq, but could not say where, under an agreement with the US forces holding him.
As is usual with ICRC visits to detainees, the organisation also refused to comment on his health or on the conditions under which he was being held.
The Red Cross team was made up of an Arabic speaker and a doctor. Saddam wrote a message to be delivered to his family.
The delegation wanted to find out details about Saddam's arrest and his health.
Under the terms of the Geneva Convention covering prisoners of war, which Washington has said applies to Saddam, US forces were obliged to give the ICRC access to the 66-year-old former president.
After he was deposed in the US-led war in April, Saddam went on the run for eight months before his capture by American troops from a pit near his hometown of Tikrit.
The Red Cross has so far visited over 10,000 prisoners, both civilian and military, since the fall of the former regime in April last year, many of whom have since been released.