BAGHDAD: Iraq’s top court on Wednesday sentenced former deputy premier Tareq Aziz and Saddam Hussein’s hatchet-man “Chemical Ali” Hassan al-Majid to 15 years in jail each for crimes against humanity.
Aziz and Majid were among eight people on trial over the 1992 murders of 42 Baghdad traders accused of racketeering while the country was under punishing UN sanctions imposed after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The two key figures in Saddam’s ousted regime had risked the death penalty, which was imposed on two other defendants in the case.
It was the first conviction against Aziz, 73, who was Saddam’s spokesman to the outside world for two decades. He turned himself in after the regime was overthrown by US-led invading forces in March 2003.
The only Christian in Saddam’s inner circle, silver-haired Aziz wore his trademark square-framed glasses and appeared to smile beatifically as he listened to court proceedings on headphones.
Aziz’s Amman-based lawyer Badea Aref said he had expected his client to be cleared as he was not in Iraq at the time of the killings, and described the sentence as “extremely harsh.”
“The decision was politically motivated,” he told AFP, adding that he would file an appeal within the 30-day limit. “I will go ahead and appeal because it’s my duty to protect my client.”
