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Saddam Hussein's lawyer predicts Tariq
Aziz will escape execution
2.1.2011
By Hemin Baban
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January 2, 2011
AMMAN, — Badi
Arif Izzat, a lawyer who has represented top figures
from the former Iraqi Ba’athist regime, including
former President Saddam Hussein and former Deputy
Prime Minister Tariq Aziz at the Supreme Iraqi
Criminal Tribunal, says, in an email interview with
Rudaw from Jordan, that he is back defending Aziz in
court again , after having given the case up some
time ago. He predicts Aziz’s death sentence will be
commuted as a result of the intervention of a number
of Western countries. Izzat also discloses that he
is withholding a message for Kurdish leaders from
Barzan Tikreti – the executed half-brother of Saddam
Hussein and former head of the Iraqi intelligence
service – until the release of Izzat’s diaries.
Q: Two weeks ago you came
to Iraq and visited former Iraqi Ba’athist regime
leaders in prison. Who did you meet and what were
their concerns?
Izzat: I went to Baghdad despite all the sectarian
and political violence there (in contrast to the
Kurdistan region’s stable situation) and despite my
colleagues’ worries. I met 17 detainees, including
Muhammed Mahdi Salih, former Iraqi trade minister;
Mahmoud Diyab Ahmed, former Iraqi interior minister;
Abdul-Ghani Abdul-Ghafoor,
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Saddam Defence lawyer Badie Aref Farhan Saleh.
Photo: Getty Images. |
former member of the
Ba’ath party leadership council; Zuher Naqeeb,
former head of Iraqi intelligence; Hamid Yosif
Hamidi, former Iraqi minister of culture; Walid H.
Tofiq, former head of the Republican Guard; and
Latif Mahal Hamoud, former Basra governor. However,
I was not able to meet [former intelligence chief]
Sadoun Shakir, Tariq Aziz and [Hussein’s former
secretary] Abid Hamoud, who have all been given
death sentences. I was unable to meet them because
they were all appearing at court for various cases.
I would like to thank Dara Nooradin, Iraqi minister
of justice; and Posho Ibrahim, head of detainees’
affairs, for their respect and highly professional
behavior.
Q: Some of the detainees
are suffering from serious illness. How was their
state of health?
Izzat: Most of the detainees are indeed suffering
from sever illnesses. For example, Sadoun Shakir is
in a very bad state of health; he has had cardiac
surgery three times. Saadi Toa’ma Jaboori, [former]
minister of labor and social affairs; [former
presidential advisor] Sabaawi Ibrahim Hassan
(Saddam’s step-brother); [former top Ba’athist
leader] Fazil Abbas Amri; Abdul-Ghani Abdul-Ghafoor;
and [former top military intelligence official]
Farhan Mutlaq [Jubouri] have been diagnosed with
cancer. Zuher Naqib, [former] head of the secret
service, has lost his eyesight completely. They are
being treated to some extent, but I urge [Iraqi
Kurdistan President] Mr. Masoud Barzani and [Iraqi
President] Jalal Talabani to help Sadoun Shakir, and
save his life. He is in a very bad condition. The
detainees are being treated not by physicians, but
nurses, so I ask Posho Ibrahim to transfer Sadoun
Shakir to Kazimiya Hospital as soon as possible,
before he passes away.
Q: You are planning to
demand the commuting of the death penalty for some
of the detainees and to file a complaint against the
court. Why?
Izzat: Yes, I have a very important document to
publish concerning the trials, which I will do
later. The document proves that all the verdicts
reached by the court were hollow verdicts. The court
does not exist legally. Soon, Jacque Verges [French
lawyer who is internationally renowned for defending
war criminals] and I will hold a press conference in
France and will publish the document. I will ask for
the release of all the detainees,www.ekurd.netincluding
those who are sentenced to death. I will practice my
profession, away from politics – I just try to stick
to my profession. I am going to come and start
working in the Kurdistan region. As for my
compliant, I will file it at the Iraqi Federal High
Court. If it is not successful, then I will file a
complaint in the international courts. I have
confidence in my legal approach and I have Arab and
foreign colleagues working with me on this.
Q: What is Tariq Aziz’s
situation? Do you predict his sentence will be
commuted, particularly as a result of the Western
countries’ demands?
Izzat: Let me tell you something that I am revealing
for the first time. There were several reasons that
made me apologize for defending Tariq Aziz and stop
defending him. I will not talk about the reasons
here, but I was convinced to take up his case again
and continue defending him, particularly in this
sensitive period. Tariq Aziz’s family believe they
do not need me any longer, as they have said this to
some people. However, after the intervention of a
number of Western countries and the Vatican, I
believe Tariq Aziz’s death sentence will be
commuted, but only his, and not those of the other
detainees. This might happen through the Court of
Appeal. Here I ask both Mr. Jalal Talabani and
Barzani to lift the death sentence of some of the
other detainees as well. I will soon go to meet with
Tariq Aziz.
Q: Do the detainees regret
their crimes against the Iraqi people?
Izzat: I cannot answer this question. For
professional reasons I cannot address this question.
Q: How do the detainees
spend their days in prison?
Izzat: I cannot answer this question either. You may
find an answer in my dairies, which are yet to be
released. There is some very important confidential
information in my diaries. I showed some of this to
President Saddam Hussein during my interviews with
him. And sections from my diaries deal with several
Kurdish leaders in the Kurdistan region, and a
number of Arab leaders in the Arab states. The
diaries also contain a message that Barzan Tikreti
asked me to relay to the Kurdish leaders, but I have
not been able to do so yet. It will be in my diaries
[when they are released].
Copyright, respective
author or news agency, rudaw.net
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