Tariq Aziz
| Tariq Aziz طارق عزيز ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ܝܘܚܢܢ |
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| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
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In office 1983–1991 |
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| President | Saddam Hussein |
| Succeeded by | Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf |
| Member of the Revolutionary Command Council | |
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In office 16 July 1979 – 9 April 2003 |
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| Member of the Regional Command of the Iraqi Regional Branch | |
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In office 1 August 1965 – 9 April 2003 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Mikhail Yuhanna 28 April 1936 Tel Keppe, Iraq |
| Died | 5 June 2015 (aged 79) Nasiriyah, Iraq |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Nationality | Iraqi Chaldean |
| Political party |
Arab Socialist Ba'ath (until 1966) Baghdad-based Ba'ath (1966–1982) (Ba'ath – Iraq Region) |
| Spouse(s) | Violet Yusef Nobud |
| Children | 4 |
| Profession | Journalist, politician |
| Religion | Chaldean Catholic |
Tariq Aziz (Arabic: طارق عزيز Ṭāriq ʿAzīz, born Mikhail Yuhanna, Syriac: ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ܝܘܚܢܢ Mīḵā'ēl Yūḥannān, Arabic: ميخائيل يوحنا Mīḫāʾīl Yūḥannā, baptized Manuel Christo; 28 April 1936 – 5 June 2015) was an Iraqi Foreign Minister (1983–1991) and Deputy Prime Minister (1979–2003) and a close advisor of President Saddam Hussein. Their association began in the 1950s when both were activists for the then-banned Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. Although he was an Arab nationalist he was in fact an ethnic Chaldean, and a member of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Because of security concerns, Saddam rarely left Iraq, so Aziz would often represent Iraq at high-level diplomatic summits. What the United States wanted, he averred, was not "regime change" in Iraq but rather "region change". He said that the Bush Administration's reasons for war were "oil and Israel."
After surrendering to American forces on 24 April 2003, Aziz was held in prison, first by American forces and subsequently by the Iraqi government, in Camp Cropper in western Baghdad. He was acquitted of some charges on 1 March 2009 following a trial, but was sentenced to 15 years on 11 March 2009 for the executions of 42 merchants found guilty of profiteering in 1992 and another 7 years for relocating Kurds.
On 26 October 2010, he was sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal, which sparked regional and international condemnation from Iraqi bishops and other Iraqis, the Vatican, the United Nations, the European Union and the human rights organization Amnesty International, as well as various governments around the world, such as Russia. On 28 October 2010, it was reported that Tariq Aziz, as well as 25 fellow prison inmates, had begun a hunger strike to protest the fact that they could not receive their once-monthly visit from friends and relatives, which was normally set for the last Friday of each month.
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Wikipedia