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Iraq
Ex-Iraqi deputy PM Tareq Aziz starts hunger strike
2006-07-07
Former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz has begun a hunger strike to protest the refusal by prison authorities holding him in Iraq to allow him to see a lawyer, his attorney said Thursday. But a spokesman for US detainee operations in Baghdad denied it. "I can confirm that he has been receiving his meals and that he met with his lawyer yesterday," Lieutenant Colonel Keir-Kevin Curry told AFP.

More from the Khaleej Times

Aziz, held by US troops since his surrender in April 2003, needs to sign a legal document authorizing his lawyer to present a case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

“Given the refusal of the US and British authorities at the camp where Tareq Aziz is held to allow his lawyer to see him and to sign a legal document giving his attorney the authority to pursue his request before the ECHR, he and his colleagues at the detention camp decided on Wednesday to begin a hunger strike,” attorney Izzat Rabih Aref said in a statement.

Aziz’s Italian lawyer, Giovanni Di Stefano, said his client’s hunger strike signalled “a sad day for international jurisprudence”. “The US and the UK know a form of authority is required and they wish to stop any form of internationally-recognized legal court hearing the case of Mr Aziz,” Di Stefano said in a statement.

He charged that if Aziz is denied the right to see his lawyer and to sign the required authorization document, “there is no chance of ever holding a fair trial”.

The European court has agreed to consider a request by Aziz concerning his detention but is awaiting official responses to three questions, one of AzizÂ’s lawyers said Tuesday. The court wants to know to which forces he surrendered on April 24, 2003, which forces have been holding him since then, and where and on what date they intend to hand him over to Iraqi authorities.

AzizÂ’s Italian lawyers said late last month they had presented a case to the ECHR after concluding that his security could be endangered if he were turned over to Iraqi authorities by US-led coalition forces.
Since the Iraqis damn well expect to execute him, whereas the ECHR will put Carla del Ponte in charge, allowing Tariq to die of a coronary some years after being esconced in a luxury villa.
Posted by:Fred

#6  It is odd that the Hollywood left, Cindy Sheehan, Tareq Aziz, Sean Penn, etc. ad nauseum have mistaken the rest of us for someone that gives a shit about their hunger strike.
Posted by: JohnQC   2006-07-07 17:04  

#5  Google "hunger strike". It doesn't look like too many people aren't on one. I had to skip lunch but I'll have dinner so I think mine would be considered "open ended"...just like the Hollywood stars!
Posted by: tu3031   2006-07-07 15:35  

#4  Old EUrope needs to learn they are totally out of the picture in Iraq, due to their total unwillingness to help out. They have no jurisdiction. They have no legal grounds to do anything. They are a non-player. They need to get their head out of their a$$ and learn that the world doesn't rotate around Belgium and the Hague. Maybe a nice bitch-slap across the face will get the message across. The US is pulling two divisions out of Germany. There are about 20 other small posts that can be closed. Outside of England and whatever bases the US decides to open in Eastern Europe, leave Ramstein, Aviano, and Naples. Move the rest of the non-UK US European Command elsewhere. THEN pull the plug on NATO, followed by a new treaty with those countries that wish to form a coalition with the US for MUTUAL defense. Europe needs to grow up.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2006-07-07 15:27  

#3  Is this part of the Cindy Sheehan rolling hunger strike?
Posted by: Raj   2006-07-07 07:45  

#2  Didn't he plead a case a while ago to be let loose on bail or something because he was really sick or dying? I guess he got better.
Posted by: glenmore   2006-07-07 07:27  

#1  According to my pal Kevin, sounds like this wasn't even a one-meal "hunger strike" like No. 1 recently performed. DiStefano's been desperately trying to grab headlines off of these cases for a year now. As for the ECHR's questions, they might try reading the papers or making a phone call. He surrendered to Coalition forces (those would be the UN-authorized coalition forces) and is held in Coalition physical custody at the request of the Iraqi government, which maintains full judicial control over him. Geez.
Posted by: Verlaine in Iraq   2006-07-07 02:29  

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