Tariq Aziz, top ranked Saddam aide, dies
BAGHDAD — Tariq Aziz, the debonair Iraqi diplomat who made his name by staunchly defending Saddam Hussein to the world during three wars and was later sentenced to death as part of the regime that killed hundreds of thousands of its own people, has died in a hospital in southern Iraq, officials said. He was 79.
Aziz died on Friday afternoon after he was taken to the al-Hussein hospital in the city of Nasiriyah, about 320 kilometres southeast of Baghdad, according to the provincial governor, Yahya al-Nassiri.
Aziz had been in custody in a prison in the south, awaiting execution.
Aziz was the highest-ranking Christian in Saddam’s regime and was its international face for years. He was sentenced in October 2010 to hang for persecuting members of the Shiite Muslim religious parties that now dominate Iraq.
A Baghdad government official confirmed the death of Aziz. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. Al-Nassiri, the governor of Dhi Qar province where Nasiriyah is the capital, said Aziz’s wife Violet had visited him on Thursday in prison and spent about an hour with him.
Aziz had suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure for a long time, and he was a chain smoker, the governor added.
Local Iraqi authorities on Friday told the family it can take Aziz’s body from the hospital morgue.
The only Christian among Saddam’s inner circle, Aziz’s religion rescued him from the hangman’s noose that was the fate of other members of the top regime leadership.
After he was sentenced to death, the Vatican asked for mercy for him as a Christian. Iraq’s president at the time, Jalal Talabani, then refused to give the death sentence his required signature, citing Aziz’s age and religion. Even before he was sentenced, the ailing Aziz appeared to know that he would die in custody. He had several strokes while in custody.