Zabeeba and the King, a novel written by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, has been transcribed into a play that will be staged at the Iraqi National Theatre in Baghdad tomorrow (Friday).

According to a report published by the London-based Arabic daily Al Hayat, the play would be the biggest ever produced by the Iraqi National Theatre.

"The play is ready to be staged. It was converted from the novel written by Saddam," said the report quoting Iraqi sources.

Transcribed by Palestinian poet Adeeb Naseer and released in book by the Iraqi Ministry of Information, the play depicts the theme of the "Iraqi confrontation with the West during the 90s."

"It took me one year to finish reading it, then I was able to convert it into a play in fifteen days," Al Naseer said.

Published one year ago, the novel was praised by Iraqi critics and media. The novel tells the suffering of a king who falls in love with a married woman named Zabeeba.

The woman led a miserable life with her husband, but she refused to marry the king when she got separation from her husband.

Zabeeba was raped on January 17, 1991, the same day the U.S.-led Allied forces launched their military attack against Iraqi forces and forcing them to pull out of Kuwait.

The king avenges Zabeeba's plight and the rapists are brought to book, but the king dies soon after the culprits' arrest.