<B>The</B> former dictator is in US custody after being found in a hole under a mud hut near his home town of Tikrit. US President George Bush said he ?will face the justice he denied to millions,? without giving details of conditions or venue for the trial.

But the head of Iraq?s interim council, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, said he wanted the ousted leader ?judged by Iraqi judges?.

The former president was shown on television being examined by an American military doctor after his capture ? he looked tired and dishevelled, with a greying beard. US officials have not revealed where he is being held, but US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he had so far refused to give the US military any intelligence information.

He said that while lawyers were still discussing Saddam Hussein?s legal status, he would be accorded the privileges of being a prisoner of war under the Geneva Convention. Unconfirmed reports suggested the 66-year-old had been moved to another country. The Dubai-based Arab TV station Al-Arabiya said Saddam Hussein was taken to Qatar.

<B>?Unrepentant, even defiant? </B>

Members of Iraq?s Governing Council said the former president showed no remorse when he was brought before them for further identification in Baghdad.

Council member Adnan Pachachi said: ?We found him obviously tired and haggard but he was unrepentant and even defiant. He told us he was a just and firm ruler.? Mr Pachachi added : ?We will deal with Saddam Hussein. He was an unjust ruler responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.?

President Bush said the capture had brought to an end a ?dark and painful? era for the Iraqi people. But he warned it did not mean the end of violence in Iraq. A special tribunal was set up in Iraq last week to try leading members of the former government. Some human rights groups say an international tribunal ? without the power to award the death penalty ? would be preferable to a trial in Iraq.

<B>Interrogation</B>

The news of Saddam Hussein?s arrest prompted scenes of jubilation among some Iraqis and was welcomed by many world leaders.

The US said the operation to capture the former president involved various US units and was launched within 24 hours of receiving a tip-off from a member of Saddam Hussein?s clan.

US officials made clear Saddam faces intensive interrogation both over what he knows about the ongoing insurgency against the US-led occupation, and about alleged weapons of mass destruction ? the basis for going to war.

Anonymous US officials who have reviewed transcripts of Saddam Hussein?s initial questioning are quoted as saying it is full of rhetoric.

Time magazine reported that he talked about the Iraqi people being in bondage but that he has denied possessing weapons of mass destruction.