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Tariq Aziz, former Iraq foreign minister, dies in hospital Tariq Aziz, former Iraqi foreign minister, dies in hospital
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Tariq Aziz, who served as the international voice of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, has died in hospital after several years of poor health in jail, a provincial official said. Tariq Aziz, the international voice of Saddam Hussein’s regime, has died in an Iraqi hospital aged 79 after several years of poor health, a provincial official has said.
“Tariq Aziz died in Hussein teaching hospital in the city of Nasiriyah where he was brought when his health condition worsened,” Adel Abdulhussein al-Dakhili, deputy governor of Dhi Qar province where the former foreign minister was jailed, told Agence France-Presse. “Tariq Aziz died in Hussein teaching hospital in the city of Nassiriya where he was brought when his health condition worsened,” Adel Abdulhussein al-Dakhili, the deputy governor of Dhi Qar province, where the former foreign minister was jailed, told Agence France-Presse.
More details soon Related: Tariq Aziz: 'Britain and the US killed Iraq. I wish I was martyred'
Dakhili did not specify the cause of death, but Aziz’s health had long been failing, as he suffered from heart and respiratory problems, high blood pressure and diabetes.
His family had repeatedly called for his release and in 2011, his lawyer said Aziz wanted the then premier, Nouri al-Maliki, to accelerate his execution due to his worsening health.
Aziz was found guilty of “deliberate murder and crimes against humanity” over a crackdown on religious parties in the 1980s and was sentenced to death in October 2010. He was also handed various prison sentences for other crimes.
As Hussein’s principal spokesman, Aziz – the only Christian in the now-executed dictator’s inner circle – was an internationally recognisable figure whose rise was attributed to unswerving loyalty to the despot.
Once omnipresent, haranguing the international media and instantly noticeable in his trademark thick glasses and neat uniform, Aziz turned himself over to American custody a month after the US-led invasion of March 2003.
Named foreign minister in 1983 and then deputy premier in 1991, Aziz was believed to have wielded little real power over decision-making, but was one of the regime’s best-known figures abroad.