10/26/10

Tariq Aziz sentenced to death

IRAQ, Oct. 26 (Mehr News Agency) Tariq Aziz, a former top aide to Saddam Hussein, was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on Tuesday for crimes against Shias, Iraqi media reported.

In March 2009, Aziz was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity, and was acquitted earlier that year on charges of ordering a 1999 crackdown against Shiite protesters.

Saddam Hussein, who was ousted as president by an American-led invasion in 2003, was himself hanged in 2006.

Aziz was foreign minister during Saddam Hussein's war against Iran in the 1980s.

Aziz is also serving a seven-year prison sentence for a case involving the forced displacement of Kurds in northern Iraq.

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