Tariq Aziz’s son pleads for condemned father’s life

Rome, Dec 2 (IANS/AKI) Tariq Aziz’s son Ziad Aziz has pleaded that his father, the condemned former aide to late Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, not be put to death. Aziz was for years the “international face” of the regime.

Speaking through a lawyer, Ziad Aziz asked Iraq’s ambassador to Italy Saywan Barzani to transmit his request to Baghdad.

“I beg you to deliver this clemency request to your government. We appreciate all the efforts that you are making to re-establish democracy and we hope that the right to life will be safeguarded,” Ziad Aziz said though his lawyer.

Ambassador Barzani said he would deliver the message.

Iraq’s Supreme Court had in late October sentenced to Aziz to death.

He had served as Hussein’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister.

The court sentenced him to die by hanging for his role in eliminating pro-Iranian Shia religious parties and persecuting Shias during the 1980s, according to a statement released by the court.

In 2009, Aziz was jailed for 15 years for the executions of 42 Iraqi merchants for ‘profiteering’.

He is a defendant in seven trials of former top Saddam officials.

–IANS/AKI