Aziz Back on Camera in Saddam's Trial
Tariq Aziz, once the public face and voice of Saddam Hussein's regime, appeared in a Baghdad courtroom to testify on behalf of the ousted leader and seven co-defendants accused of crimes against humanity.
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In Baghdad today, Saddam Hussein's former Foreign Minister, Tariq Aziz, took the stand as a witness on Hussein's behalf. Saddam Hussein and seven codefendants are facing charges of crimes against humanity involving the killing of nearly 150 Shiite villagers after an assassination attempt there in 1982. Aziz and other defense witnesses have argued that the killings were justified and they say members of the current Iraqi government have blood on their hands as well.
NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Baghdad.
PETER KENYON: The Tariq Aziz who appeared in court today was a pale semblance of the facile, articulate diplomat who was, for years, the face of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The 70-year-old appeared in his pajamas. His family had urged for some time that he be released for medical treatment. The session began, as have most recently, with Chief Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman silencing outbursts from the defendants or their lawyers.
Unlike Monday, no one was ejected, but the judge abruptly cut off protests by Saddam and his ex-Intelligence Chief Barzan Ibrahim. Aziz, who was deputy prime minister in the early 1980s when the killings of the Dujail villagers were carried out, testified along the same lines as previous defense witnesses.
First, that the reprisals were warranted as Iraq was in the midst of a bloody war with Iran at the time and second, that the prosecution is charging the wrong officials with overseeing the killings of the Dujail villagers and the destruction of their orchards.
TARIQ AZIZ: (Through translator) Saddam just took the ordinary legal measures that were stipulated by Iraqi law. Barzan, too, was my friend, my brother and head of intelligence. He is not responsible for the Dujail incident. Had the intelligence arrested that many people and tortured and killed them, as we've heard from the witnesses here, of course, I would have heard of that. But what I know is that the security apparatus was behind it.
KENYON: Iraqi officials say blaming the general security service for the Dujail killings would be very convenient for Saddam, as the man who headed that service at the time is dead. Prosecutors say they have solid documentary evidence linking Saddam to the killings.
Aziz also argued that the Dujail assassination attempt was one of a series of attacks by Shiites, including one on his own life at Baghdad's Al-Mustansiriyah University.
AZIZ: (Through translator) I, too, Your Honor, am a victim of criminal acts that were carried out by a party who is in power now. So put that party on trial. The deputy head of that party is prime minister now. So ask them, why did you try to kill Tariq Aziz?
KENYON: Judge Abdul Rahman grew impatient with Aziz as he kept demanding that Dowa officials be tried for attempted murder. Other defense witnesses included Saddam's son-in-law and brother-in-law and his personal secretary, Abid Hamid, who said the Dujail attack against Saddam was likely coordinated with Tehran.
The trial is due to resume May 29th. A U.S. official said testimony in the case could finish by the end of June with a verdict several weeks later at the discretion of the judges. The defendants may be facing the death penalty and this case is seen as a test of Iraq's nascent judiciary.
Separately, Iraq announced the arrest of one of Saddam's nephews, who had fled to Lebanon. The announcement gave few details, but said Bashar Sabawi al- Tikriti was arrested with the help of Lebanese police. He was on Iraq's most wanted list for what the government called his ugly crimes against the Iraqi people after the fall of the regime.
Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Baghdad.
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