Baghdad, Iraq ? Seven months after being taken prisoner, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein suffers from a chronic prostate infection but has rebuffed suggestions that a biopsy be performed to rule out cancer, Iraq’s human rights minister said Thursday.

Tests show that, despite the prostate problem, the 67-year-old deposed dictator is otherwise in good health and has even shed some extra weight while in U.S. detention, Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin told Al-Jazeera television.

He said X-ray and blood tests came back negative for cancer, but officials wanted to take a biopsy to be safe.

Chronic prostate infections occur in about 35 percent of all men over 50, but are not linked to cancer.

There have been several media reports saying his health was deteriorating, something the U.S. military denied Thursday.

“Saddam did not have a stroke, and he is not dead,” 1st Sgt. Steve Valley told The Associated Press.