Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussain, now being detained by the United States at an undisclosed location, may soon find himself in the custody of the Iraqi authorities, diplomats said.

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The US-led coalition is likely to hand over the charge of prisons to Iraqis as a part of transfer of sovereignty, especially in the wake of a scandal involving torture of Iraqi  prisoners by American soldiers, even though the draft resolution, presented by Washington and London to the Security Council, does not explicitly mention that, they said.

Some members of the Security Council, during informal consultations on the draft resolution, had demanded that handing over of the prisons should be made a part of the resolution especially in view of the Abu Ghraib scandal.

Western diplomats said they would like to hand over the control of prisons as early as possible and that would include the transfer of custody of Saddam Hussain and his top officials.

Iraq has established a war crime tribunal headed by Salem Chalabi which is expected to try Hussain and other high officials now under detention.