Saturday, May 21 2005 16:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Saddam Hussein plans to take legal action against a British tabloid, which published his half-naked photographs in his prison cell and showed him doing his washing.

"We will sue the newspaper and everyone who helped in showing these pictures," said Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer Ziad Al-Khasawneh, speaking from Jordan, BBC reported today (May 21, 2005). The Sun newspaper said it would fight any legal action and said it planned to publish more photos.

The US has launched an investigation into how the photos were leaked.

The US military and legal experts said the photos - photos taken more than a year ago - may breach Geneva Convention rules on the humane treatment of prisoners of war.

The conventions say countries must protect prisoners of war in their custody from "public curiosity".

Saddam Hussein is being held by US troops at an undisclosed location in Iraq as he awaits trial on numerous charges, including murdering rivals, gassing Iraqi Kurds and using violence to suppress uprisings.

The photos show the 68-year-old former leader with a moustache, rather than the beard he sported when he was captured in December 2003 and again when he appeared in court last July.

The Sun's front page showed him wearing a pair of white underpants. Other pictures show him washing his trousers, shuffling around and sleeping.