Iraqi High Tribunal to Try Former Deputy Prime Minister Aziz

Tariq Aziz, who served for almost ten years as Saddam Hussein’s Deputy Prime Minister, is set to be tried in the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the 1992 executions of 40 Baghdad merchants. The merchants had been charged with raising food prices while Iraq was the subject of international sanctions, and were found guilty after a short trial.^[1]

Aziz will stand trial alongside Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as “Chemical Ali,” who is now on death row following his conviction last year for his role in the murder of tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians. Also on trial is Wathan Ibrahim al-Hassan, the half-brother of Saddam Hussein.^[2]

“Everybody knows that he was not involved in this thing, but the Iraqi government has accused him and [plans to] put him on trial because of his name,” asserted Ziyad Aziz, Tariq’s son.^[3] “Even though he was part of the regime, everybody knows my father was responsible for foreign relations of Iraq and other countries…he was not involved in this thing about the merchants.”^[4]

Tariq Aziz has been in custody since 2003, when he surrendered to US forces in Iraq. He suffered a stroke in 2006 and was hospitalized after a fall in prison last year, but is expected to be present in court.^[5]

Judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, an Iraqi Kurd who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death, will preside over Aziz’s trial. The Tribunal was established to try former members of Hussein’s regime, but has been criticized by human rights groups for a variety of issues. Human Rights Watch faulted the Hussein trial for having “serious administrative, procedural and substantive legal defects.”^[6]

Further information on cases heard by the Iraqi Special Tribunal, including extensive coverage of the Saddam Hussein trial, can be found on the International Crimes Blog.


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[1] BBC Online, Tariq Aziz trial begins in Iraq, April 29, 2008 (available at www.bbc.co.uk/news).

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.

[6] Id.