[Emirates 24/7] An Iraqi court sentenced former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz to 10 years in prison on Monday for the displacement and killing of minority Faili Kurds during the rule of Saddam Hussein.| And now we know, thanks to WikiLeaks, that Iraqi prisons are not up to American standards. Nor Iraqi prison guards. Do enjoy your stay, Former Deputy Prime Minister. |
"The courts issued a 10-year prison sentence against Tareq Aziz and Ahmed Hussein Khodayr," a spokesman for the supreme criminal court said. Khodayr was an aide to the now executed dictator.
In poor health and among Saddam's few surviving top cohorts, Aziz, 74, has been in prison since surrendering in April 2003, shortly after the capture of Baghdad in the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Aziz, who was born to a Christian family, was foreign minister and deputy prime minister under Saddam, who was hanged in December 2006.
The death sentence, which was handed down on October 26, provoked a wave of appeals for clemency from around the world, including from human rights groups, the European Union, Russia and the Vatican.
Saadun Shaker, a former interior minister, Aziz Saleh al-Nohman and Mizban Khoder Hadi, both members of regional Baath party commands, were meanwhile all sentenced to death in connection with the displacement and killing of Faili Kurds during the Iran-Iraq war which stretched from 1980 to 1988.