VOA News 26 October 2010 Former Iraqi minister Tariq Aziz, who was sentenced to death Tuesday, served as one of the most prominent international figures in Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The 74-year-old former diplomat was a member of the now outlawed Baath party. He served as a foreign minister and deputy prime minister during Saddam’s regime. He was the only Christian in the former Iraqi dictator’s inner circle.
Iraq's top criminal court issued the sentence Tuesday for former foreign minister Tariq Aziz for his role in the persecution of Shi'ite political parties.
Aziz had been charged with helping to kill, imprison or exile leaders of the Islamic Dawa party of current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Aziz speaks fluent English. He rose to prominence during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait and then played a leading role as foreign minister during the Gulf War.
Aziz gave himself up to U.S. forces in 2003, shortly after the fall of Baghdad. At the time, he ranked 43rd on the U.S. most-wanted list of Iraqi officials. Aziz has said he is guilty of nothing more than being a loyalist. He says he, personally, committed no crime.
Aziz has said he is guilty of nothing more than being a loyalist. He says he, personally, committed no crime.
In an interview with the British Guardian newspaper earlier this year, Aziz said the U.S. invasion of Iraq had "killed" his homeland.
The Iraqi court said two other defendants in the case were also sentenced to death.
Sadoun Shakir is Iraq's former interior minister. Abed Hamoud served as Saddam Hussein's personal secretary.
In 2009, Aziz was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the execution of 42 merchants in 1992. He received another seven-year sentence for the forced displacement of Kurds in northern Iraq.
The United States handed Aziz over to Iraqi prison authorities earlier this year. Despite being the international face of Saddam’s regime, Aziz has long maintained he was simply a loyalist of the former Iraqi leader’s government.
Aziz is 74 and is said to be in ill health after suffering a stroke.
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