Tareq Aziz dies

NASIRIYAH, Iraq: Iraq’s jailed former foreign minister Tareq Aziz, who used his mastery of English to put a gloss on Saddam Hussein’s regime for two decades, died in hospital on Friday aged 79.
As Saddam’s principal spokesman, the bespectacled Aziz — the only Christian in the now-executed president’s inner circle — was a recognisable figure internationally whose rise was attributed to unswerving loyalty to Saddam.
Aziz was found guilty of “deliberate murder and crimes against humanity” for a crackdown on religious parties in the 1980s, and was sentenced to death in October 2010.
He was also handed various prison sentences for other crimes.
“Tareq Aziz died in Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah,” where he was brought when his health worsened, Adel Abdulhussein al-Dakhili, deputy governor of Dhi Qar province in south Iraq, where the ex-foreign minister was jailed, told AFP.
Dakhili did not specify what Aziz died from, but he had long been in poor health, suffering from heart and respiratory problems, high blood pressure and diabetes.
His family repeatedly called for his release from custody, and in 2011, his lawyer said that Aziz, in a state of depression, wanted then-premier Nuri al-Maliki to accelerate his execution due to his worsening health.