Tariq Aziz Gets 15 Years
Saddam Hussein henchman Tariq Aziz has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his part in the kangaroo court trial and execution of 42 Baghdad merchants; apparently Aziz still has influence in Iraq, because two of Hussein’s half-brothers are going to be hanged.
BAGHDAD, March 11 — An Iraqi court sentenced Iraq’s former foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, and Ali Hassan al-Majeed, a senior colleague of Saddam Hussein, to 15 years in prison Wednesday for their role in what the court deemed a crime against humanity, the killing of 42 merchants in Baghdad in 1992 for profiteering.
The sentence was the first against Aziz, a fluent English speaker who was the public face of Hussein’s government before turning himself into U.S. authorities a month after his government fell in April 2003. It comes less than two weeks after the 73-year-old Aziz was acquitted by the same court, Iraq’s highest, in another case.
Two of Hussein’s half-brothers, Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan and Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, were sentenced to death for their role in the executions.
Frank says: