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| Tariq Aziz, former Iraqi foreign minister, dies in hospital | Tariq Aziz, former Iraqi foreign minister, dies in hospital |
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| 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, 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 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. | |
| Related: Tariq Aziz: 'Britain and the US killed Iraq. I wish I was martyred' | 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. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
| He remained defiant. In 2010, in what would prove to be his last English-language interview, he told the Guardian: “It’s been seven years and four months that I have been in prison. But did I commit a crime against any civilian, military or religious man? The answer is no.” | |
| 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. | 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. | 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. | |
| “Of course I was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council, a leader of the Ba’ath party, deputy prime minister, foreign minister – all of those posts were mine,” he told the Guardian in the 2010 interview. However, he claimed that he had been powerless to stymie the will of the leader he served, and that none of the regime’s blood on his hands. | |
| “All decisions were taken by President Saddam Hussein. I held a political position, I did not participate in any of the crimes that were raised against me personally,” he said. “Out of hundreds of complaints, nobody has mentioned me in person.” |