Saddam's former deputy sentenced to death

Iraq's supreme criminal court sentences former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz to death.

BAGHDAD: Iraq's supreme criminal court sentenced former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz to death on Tuesday, state television reported.

This is the first death sentence handed down against the longtime international face of the Saddam Hussein regime.

"The supreme criminal court issued an execution order against Tareq Aziz for his role in eliminating religious parties," the television reported.

As Saddam's principal spokesman, the bespectacled Aziz, the only Christian in the now executed dictator's inner circle, was a recognisable figure internationally whose rise was attributed to unswerving loyalty to his master.

Iraq's top court last year jailed both Aziz and Saddam’s cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid for 15 years for their role in the 1992 execution of 42 Baghdad wholesalers.

Aziz had earlier been acquitted in the first of four trials for alleged crimes against humanity.

His family, now in Jordan, has repeatedly called for his release from custody, saying the 74-year-old was in poor health suffering from heart and respiratory problems, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Named foreign minister in 1983 and then deputy premier in 1991, Aziz was believed to have wielded little real power of decision-making.