 The lawyer for former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, being held for trial on two counts of mass murder, said he would seek his client's freedom for lack of proof. "I will present a petition to the chief of the investigating magistrates on the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) that Tareq Aziz be freed for lack of proof," Badi Aref Izzat told AFP. "After having met with my client and reviewed the charges against him, I have concluded that there is not sufficient proof to bring him to justice and, consequently, that his detention is illegal," Izzat added.
| Oh. Well. In that case let him go, by all means... |
"No personal claim has been made against him," he said, arguing that the law requires that. On July 1, Aziz was formally charged alongside his captive colleagues by the IST established by the US-led coalition to try senior members of the former regime. He was charged with two counts of mass murder, allegedly committed in 1979 and 1991, and punishable by death if he is found guilty. But Izzat said Aziz strongly denies the charges because he "never participated in these operations and knew nothing about them." |