Tariq Aziz: Difference between revisions
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On August 2, 2009, Aziz was convicted of helping to plan the forced displacement of [[Kurds]] from northeastern Iraq and sentenced to seven years in jail.<ref name="voanews.2009">{{cite web |date= August 2, 2009|url = http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-08-02-voa20.cfm|title = Former Iraqi Official Gets 7 Years for Expelling Kurds|format = |publisher = [[Voice of America]]| accessdate = August 2, 2009 | last= |quote=}}</ref> |
On August 2, 2009, Aziz was convicted of helping to plan the forced displacement of [[Kurds]] from northeastern Iraq and sentenced to seven years in jail.<ref name="voanews.2009">{{cite web |date= August 2, 2009|url = http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-08-02-voa20.cfm|title = Former Iraqi Official Gets 7 Years for Expelling Kurds|format = |publisher = [[Voice of America]]| accessdate = August 2, 2009 | last= |quote=}}</ref> |
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On October 26, 2010, the Iraqi Supreme Court handed down a death sentence against Aziz for the offense of "persecution of Islamic parties",<ref name="BBC_October_26_2010">{{cite news |date=October 26, 2010|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11625501|title = Iraqi ex-minister Tariq Aziz sentenced to death|publisher = [[BBC News]]| accessdate = 2010-10-26 | last= |quote= | location= | first= }}</ref> amongst them the serving Prime Minister [[Nouri al-Maliki]]'s [[Islamic Dawa Party]], following a crackdown on a [[1991 uprisings in Iraq|Shia uprising]] after the 1991 [[Gulf War]].<ref name="timesonline_March_21_2008">{{cite news |date=March 21, 2008|url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3593682.ece|title = Freedom plea for Tariq Aziz, Saddam's dying apologist|publisher = [[timesonline]]| accessdate = 2008-04-13 | last= Fletcher|quote= | location=London | first=Martin}}</ref> However, evidence of Aziz's association with such activities has been argued to be lacking, and his lawyers state that his role in the former Iraqi government was that of a traveling diplomat with no say in Iraqi domestic policy.<ref name="UPI_October_26_2010">{{cite news |date=October 26, 2010|url = http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/10/26/Former-top-Iraqi-leader-sentenced-to-death/UPI-82941288095889/|title = Former top Iraqi leader sentenced to death|publisher = [[ |
On October 26, 2010, the Iraqi Supreme Court handed down a death sentence against Aziz for the offense of "persecution of Islamic parties",<ref name="BBC_October_26_2010">{{cite news |date=October 26, 2010|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11625501|title = Iraqi ex-minister Tariq Aziz sentenced to death|publisher = [[BBC News]]| accessdate = 2010-10-26 | last= |quote= | location= | first= }}</ref> amongst them the serving Prime Minister [[Nouri al-Maliki]]'s [[Islamic Dawa Party]], following a crackdown on a [[1991 uprisings in Iraq|Shia uprising]] after the 1991 [[Gulf War]].<ref name="timesonline_March_21_2008">{{cite news |date=March 21, 2008|url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3593682.ece|title = Freedom plea for Tariq Aziz, Saddam's dying apologist|publisher = [[timesonline]]| accessdate = 2008-04-13 | last= Fletcher|quote= | location=London | first=Martin}}</ref> However, evidence of Aziz's association with such activities has been argued to be lacking, and his lawyers state that his role in the former Iraqi government was that of a traveling diplomat with no say in Iraqi domestic policy.<ref name="UPI_October_26_2010">{{cite news |date=October 26, 2010|url = http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/10/26/Former-top-Iraqi-leader-sentenced-to-death/UPI-82941288095889/|title = Former top Iraqi leader sentenced to death|publisher = [[Al Jazeera English]]| accessdate = 2010-10-26 | last= |quote= | location= | first= }}</ref> His lawyer further states that the death sentence itself may have been politically motivated and that timing of the death sentence may have been aimed at diverting international attention away documents released by [[WikiLeaks|WikiLeaks]] which detailed crimes in which Maliki government officials have been implicated<ref name="Al_Jazeera_English_October_26_2010">{{cite news |date=October 26, 2010|url = http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/201010269256151984.html|title = Tariq Aziz sentenced to death|publisher = [[Al Jazeera]]| accessdate = 2010-10-26 | last= |quote= | location= | first= }}</ref> His lawyers have 30 days to lodge an appeal, following which the court would have another 30 days to look into the appeal; if the appeal is turned down the sentence would be carried out after another 30 days.<ref>http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/201010269256151984.html</ref> Recently, the [[Holy See|Vatican]] has urged the Iraqi government not to carry out his execution.<ref name="Forbes_October_26_2010">{{cite news |date=October 26, 2010|url = http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/10/26/general-eu-vatican-iraq_8045863.html|title = Vatican urges Iraq to halt Aziz execution|publisher = [[Forbes]]| accessdate = 2010-10-26 | last= |quote= | location= | first= }}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 22:33, 26 October 2010
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
Tariq Aziz | |
|---|---|
| File:TariqAziz.jpg Tariq Aziz, c. 2005 | |
| Member of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council 5th Deputy Prime Minister[1] | |
| In office July 16, 1979 – April 9, 2003 | |
| Succeeded by | Jay Garner, as Head of the Coalition Provisional Authority |
| Foreign Minister of Iraq | |
| In office 1983–1991 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 28, 1936 Qaraqosh, Iraq |
| Political party | Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party |
Mikhail Yuhanna ([ميخائيل يوحنا; Mīḫāʾīl Yūḥannā)] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), later and more popularly known as Tariq Aziz or Tareq Aziz (Arabic: طارق عزيز; Ṭāriq ʿAzīz; Syriac: ܜܪܩ ܥܙܝܙ born April 28, 1936) was the Foreign Minister (1983 – 1991) and Deputy Prime Minister (1979 – 2003) of Iraq and a close advisor of former President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party.
Because of security concerns, Saddam rarely left Iraq, so Aziz would often represent Iraq at high-level diplomatic summits. What the United States wanted, he averred, was not "regime change" in Iraq but rather "region change". He summed up the Bush Administration's reasons for war against Iraq tersely: "oil and Israel."[2]
Aziz is currently in prison in Camp Cropper in western Baghdad.[3] He was acquitted of some charges on March 1, 2009 following a trial, but was sentenced to 15 years on March 11, 2009 for his role in the executions of 42 merchants found guilty of profiteering in 1992.[4] It was reported on 17 January 2010 that he had suffered a stroke whilst in prison and had been transferred to hospital.[5] On October 26, he was sentenced to death.
Early life
Aziz was born on April 28, 1936, in Tel Keppe, Qaraqosh, to a Chaldean Christian family. Originally named Mikhail Yuhanna, he changed his name to Tariq Aziz to allay any hostile sentiments towards his Christian heritage. Aziz studied English at the Baghdad University of Fine Arts, and later worked as a journalist, before joining the Ba'ath Party in 1957. In 1963, he was editor of the newspaper Aj-Jamahir (al-Jamaheer) and al Thawra, the newspaper of the Ba'ath party.[6]
In April 1980 he survived an Iranian-backed assassination attempt carried out by members of the Islamic Dawa Party. In the attack, members of Islamic Dawa Party threw a grenade at Aziz in central Baghdad. The attack killed several people.[7] It was among the casi belli of the Iran–Iraq War.
Family
His son Ziad Aziz lives in Jordan with his wife, four children, and Tariq Aziz's two sisters. Tariq Aziz's wife and another son live in Yemen.[8]
Political life
He began to rise through the ranks of Iraqi politics after the Ba'ath party came to power in 1968. He served as a member of the Regional Command, the Ba'ath Party's highest governing organization from 1974 to 1977, and in 1977 became a member of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council.
In 1979, Aziz became Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, and worked as a diplomat to explain Iraq's policies to the world. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Tariq Aziz served as the international spokesman in support of the military action. He claimed the invasion was justified because Kuwait's increased oil production was harming Iraqi oil revenues. He condemned Arab states for "subservience to the United States' hegemony in the Middle East and their support for punitive sanctions."[9]
On January 9, 1991, Aziz was involved in the Geneva Peace Conference which included the United States Secretary of State, James Baker. The goal of the meeting was to discuss a possible resolution to the occupation of Kuwait.
In 2001 Aziz's son Ziad was arrested for corruption. In January 1999 Ziad was accused by his former mistress of using the official position of his father (mostly his cars) to facilitate smooth crossing of the Jordanian border with contraband, attempted murder on her husband and family, as well as for corruption involving French and Indonesian companies. He was arrested and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Tariq Aziz resigned from his post but Hussein did not accept his resignation. Ziad was eventually released from prison when Hussein decided that Aziz had paid enough for his mistakes.
Audience with the Pope
On February 14, 2003, Aziz reportedly had an audience with Pope John Paul II and other officials in Vatican City, where, according to a Vatican statement, he communicated "the wish of the Iraqi government to co-operate with the international community, notably on disarmament". The same statement said that the Pope "insisted on the necessity for Iraq to faithfully respect and give concrete commitments to resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, which is the guarantor of international law".
Iraq war
In October 2000 the then-junior Minister for Foreign Affairs from Britain, Peter Hain, set up a secret war avoidance team to carry messages back and forth between himself and Aziz.[10] After initial cooperation, Aziz rebuffed the delegations.[10]
On March 19, 2003, reports surfaced from Iraq that Aziz had been shot dead while trying to enter the Kurdish part of the country. The rumor was quashed rather quickly when Aziz held a press conference assuring the world he was still alive and well.
After the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, his home was swiftly looted by Iraqis.[citation needed]
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
In the run-up to war President George W. Bush claimed Tariq Aziz as one of the Iraqi regime who was responsible for hiding Iraqi WMD:
President Bush expressed unshakable confidence Saturday about finding banned weapons in Iraq and complained that Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's closest deputies, is not cooperating with U.S. forces who have him in custody. Bush said the deputy prime minister, the most visible face of the former Iraqi government other than Saddam, 'still doesn't know how to tell the truth.'
— USA Today [11]
Surrender
He surrendered to American forces on April 24, 2003. He was the 43rd, later 25th, of 55 most-wanted Iraqi leadership members sought by U.S. forces after the Fall of Baghdad in the 2003 Iraq War. Before the war, Aziz claimed he would rather die than be a U.S. prisoner of war: "Do you expect me, after all my history as a militant and as one of the Iraqi leaders, to go to an American prison – to go to Guantanamo? I would rather die", he told Britain's ITV.
Defense witness
On May 24, 2006, Aziz testified in Baghdad as a defense witness for Ibrahim Barzan and Mukhabarat employees, claiming that they did not have any role in the 1982 Dujail crackdown. He stated that the arrests were in response to the assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein, which was carried out by the Shiite Dawa Party. "If the head of state comes under attack, the state is required by law to take action. If the suspects are caught with weapons, it's only natural they should be arrested and put on trial".[12]
He further testified that the Dujail attack was "part of a series of attacks and assassination attempts by this group, including against me." He said that in 1980, Dawa Party insurgents threw a grenade at him as he visited a Baghdad university, killing civilians around him. "I'm a victim of a criminal act conducted by this party, which is in power right now. So put it on trial. Its leader was the prime minister and his deputy is the prime minister right now and they killed innocent Iraqis in 1980," he said.[12] The Dawa Party is now a party in the Shiite coalition that dominates the Iraqi government. The party's leader, Ibrahim al-Jaafari was prime minister until mid-May, when another leading Dawa Party figure, Nouri al-Maliki was picked and he was able to form a new government before the end of May 2006.[13]
In closing he stated that "Saddam is my colleague and comrade for decades, and Barzan is my brother and my friend and he is not responsible for Dujail's events."
In prison
On May 29, 2005, the British newspaper The Observer published letters (in Arabic and English) from Aziz written in April and May 2005 addressed to "world public opinion" pleading for international help to end "his dire situation":[14]
It is imperative that there is intervention into our dire situation and treatment ... We hope that you will help us. We have been in prison for a long time and we have been cut from our families. No contacts, no phones, no letters. Even the parcels sent to us by our families are not given to us. We need a fair treatment, a fair investigation and finally a fair trial. Please help us.
— Tariq Aziz[15]
In August 2005, Aziz's family was allowed to visit him. At the time the location of Aziz's prison was undisclosed; his family was brought in a bus with blackened out windows.
Due to security reasons he has since been moved to Camp Cropper, part of the huge US base surrounding Baghdad airport.[16] His son has said that while his father is in poor health, he is being well treated by prison officials. He can make 30 minutes of telephone calls monthly and has access to US Arabic-language radio and television stations. Every two months his family can send a parcel containing clothes, cigarettes, chocolate, coffee and magazines.[16]
The spiritual leader of Iraq's Chaldean community, Emmanuel III Delly, called for Aziz's release in his 2007 Christmas message. Aziz was acquitted of crimes against humanity, and his health conditions demand an immediate release from his prison Camp Cropper.[8]
Aziz is currently in prison in Camp Cropper in western Baghdad.[17] It was reported on 17 January 2010 that he had suffered a stroke whilst in prison and had been transferred to hospital.[18]
On September 22, 2010 documents were released that he had given an interview about how he had told the FBI that the dictator Saddam was "delighted" in the 1998 terrorist bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa but had no interest in partnering with Osama bin Laden.[19]
Trial
He was set to appear before the Iraq Special Tribunal set up by the Iraq Interim Government but until April 2008 he was not brought up on any charges.[8] This changed when on April 29, 2008, Aziz went on trial over the deaths of a group of 42 merchants who were summarily executed in 1992. The merchants were charged by the regime with manipulating food prices when Iraq was under international sanctions.[20] Aziz was being represented by Giovanni Di Stefano[16][21] but in May 2008 Aziz demanded a new legal team. The new legal team included Jacques Vergès as well as four Italian lawyers and a French-Lebanese.[22][23] On 11 March 2009 Aziz was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 15 years in prison.[24] He was acquitted in a separate trial which concerned the suppression of an uprising in Baghdad during the 1990s.[24]
On August 2, 2009, Aziz was convicted of helping to plan the forced displacement of Kurds from northeastern Iraq and sentenced to seven years in jail.[25]
On October 26, 2010, the Iraqi Supreme Court handed down a death sentence against Aziz for the offense of "persecution of Islamic parties",[26] amongst them the serving Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party, following a crackdown on a Shia uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.[16] However, evidence of Aziz's association with such activities has been argued to be lacking, and his lawyers state that his role in the former Iraqi government was that of a traveling diplomat with no say in Iraqi domestic policy.[27] His lawyer further states that the death sentence itself may have been politically motivated and that timing of the death sentence may have been aimed at diverting international attention away documents released by WikiLeaks which detailed crimes in which Maliki government officials have been implicated[28] His lawyers have 30 days to lodge an appeal, following which the court would have another 30 days to look into the appeal; if the appeal is turned down the sentence would be carried out after another 30 days.[29] Recently, the Vatican has urged the Iraqi government not to carry out his execution.[30]
References
- ^ "Former Iraqi deputy PM Tariq Aziz to face trial". reuters. April 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
- ^ Burns, John F. (2002-10-22). "Theats and Responses: Baghdad's View; Citing North Korea, an Iraqi Aide Says 'Oil and Israel,' Not Weapons, Spur the U.S." New York Times. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
- ^ U.S. Attack Near Baghdad Reported to Kill at Least 15 (NY Times)
- ^ "World | Middle East | Tariq Aziz guilty of Iraq murders". BBC News. March 11, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
- ^ "Tariq Aziz 'has stroke in prison'". BBC News. January 17, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq (Princeton, 1978).
- ^ Whitaker, Brian (April 25, 2003). "Christian outsider in Saddam's inner circle". London: Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 24 December 2007.
- ^ a b c "Call to free Iraq's Tariq Aziz". BBC. 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
- ^ iraqinews.com as retrieved on 3 August 2007 20:30:04 GMT.
- ^ a b Anton La Guardia, David Blair and Andrew Sparrow (May 6, 2003). "Britain kept open secret channel to Iraq". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
- ^ "Bush: Aziz 'still doesn't know how to tell the truth'". pub. 2003-05-03. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
President Bush expressed unshakable confidence Saturday about finding banned weapons in Iraq and complained that Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's closest deputies, is not cooperating with U.S. forces who have him in custody.Bush said the deputy prime minister, the most visible face of the former Iraqi government other than Saddam, "still doesn't know how to tell the truth."
- ^ a b "Tariq Aziz Takes Stand In Saddam Trial". CBS Broadcasting Inc. May 24, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
that the crackdown was a legitimate response to the assassination attempt and that the prosecution has blamed the wrong authorities for the sweep. In particular, they have said the general security services were responsible for the arrests, not Ibrahim's Mukhabarat or the People's Army, headed at the time by co-defendant Taha Yassin Ramadan.... "If the head of state comes under attack, the state is required by law to take action. If the suspects are caught with weapons, it's only natural they should be arrested and put on trial,"
- ^ "Profile: Nouri Maliki". BBC News. 20 May 2006. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
Iraq's new Prime Minister Nouri Maliki - who is also sometimes called Jawad Maliki - is a stalwart of the Dawa party, the Shia political group that for years led an armed underground resistance to the secular Baathist leadership of Saddam Hussein.
- ^ PDF The Guardian file
- ^ Antony Barnett (May 29, 2005). "The extraordinary pleas of Saddam's right-hand man". London: Observer. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ a b c d Fletcher, Martin (March 21, 2008). "Freedom plea for Tariq Aziz, Saddam's dying apologist". London: timesonline. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ U.S. Attack Near Baghdad Reported to Kill at Least 15 (NY Times)
- ^ "Tariq Aziz 'has stroke in prison'". BBC News. January 17, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ Burns, Robert (September 22, 2010). "Iraqi: Saddam 'delighted' in terror attacks on US". Washington Post. Retrieved September 23, 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Tariq Aziz guilty of Iraq murders". BBC News. March 11, 2009. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
- ^ "Lawyer for Tariq Aziz asks Italy, Vatican to help Aziz live in Italy while he awaits trial". Associated Press. January 16, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
- ^ "Tariq Aziz trial resumes in Iraq". BBC News. 09:33 GMT, Tuesday, 20 May 2008 10:33 UK. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Iraqi court acquits Tariq Aziz". New York Times. March 2, 2009. Retrieved 02-03-2009.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b "Tariq Aziz, 'Chemical Ali' sentenced by Iraq court". CNN. March 11, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ "Former Iraqi Official Gets 7 Years for Expelling Kurds". Voice of America. August 2, 2009. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
- ^ "Iraqi ex-minister Tariq Aziz sentenced to death". BBC News. October 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ "Former top Iraqi leader sentenced to death". Al Jazeera English. October 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ "Tariq Aziz sentenced to death". Al Jazeera. October 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/201010269256151984.html
- ^ "Vatican urges Iraq to halt Aziz execution". Forbes. October 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
External links
{{{inline}}}
- Tariq Aziz faces US questions - BBC, April 25, 2003
- Tariq Aziz Profile - BBC, October 11, 2002
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.