Iraq's US-backed Governing Council said today that captured former leader Saddam Hussein was being held in the Baghdad area and would face a public trial in Iraq.
"Saddam Hussein is present in an area of greater Baghdad," Council member Mr Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told a news conference.
"He was not moved to Qatar. This report was denied by (US administrator) Ambassador (Paul) Bremer and the coalition authority. God willing...he will be tried in Iraq in public by an Iraqi court."
Council member Mr Adnan Pachachi confirmed that Mr Bremer had said Saddam had not been taken out of the country.
US officials have said in public only that Saddam, captured by US forces near Tikrit on Saturday, was at an "undisclosed location".
Mr Rubaie read a statement in which the Council hailed Saddam's capture as the end of a dark era and urged Iraqis to open a new page.
"On this historic occasion, the Security Council stresses the need for a spirit of forgiveness to rebuild the national unity on solid basis that includes disavowing violence and vengeance and focusing on building the Iraq of justice, peace and prosperity," the statement said.
It said Saddam, his followers and foreign "terrorists" would be tried as war criminals.
The statement called on former Iraqi soldiers of Saddam's disbanded army who had not committed any crimes "to prove their devotion to the nation" in preparation for acceptance back as part of the Iraqi people.