Saddam was tortured before hanging

Washington, May 5: In letters from jail, Saddam Hussein alleged that he was tortured, and also complained of sleepless nights

Hussein, who was captured in 2003, said that the 'detention gang' was after him night after night.

Saddam poured out his complaints "to whom it may concern" in two Christmas 2003 letters, handwritten in Arabic, which he gave to his US military jailers, the Daily News has learned.

In one letter, he alleged "beatings that I have received following my capture," in which "not a single part of my body was spared of the severe harm that was inflicted by the detention gang," adding, "some of the traces are still visible on my body."

The tyrant and his family, who maintained their 24-year reign over Iraq by torturing and executing thousands, complained that his lockup - believed to be at Baghdad International Airport - was an American-made chamber of horrors.

"My opportunity to sleep in this place is limited and almost scarce. I don't think there is anyone with a sensitive and humanitarian heart who can sleep amidst the screams of the tortured and the many blows of the doors and the squeaking sounds of the chairs," he said.

Saddam whined that his "total hours of sleep did not exceed four to five hours."

The letters were among 352 pages in his declassified FBI file, which The News requested after his Dec 2006 execution for crimes against humanity.

ANI