Saddam’s aide Tariq Aziz is given the death penalty
SADDAM Hussein’s henchman Tariq Aziz was yesterday sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.
Iraq’s former deputy PM and foreign minister became the international face of Saddam’s brutal regime.
Aziz, 74, is already behind bars for his role in killings carried out by the former dictatorship. Now he is due to be hanged for the “willful killing, torture and enforced disappearance” of members of religious parties. Aziz surrendered to invading US forces in April 2003 but was handed over to the Iraqi prison authorities this year.
No execution date has been set. His lawyers, who are likely to appeal, said the Iraqi high court verdict was “politically motivated”. Saddam was hanged in December 2006.