AMMAN // In the not too distant past, Tariq Aziz was one of the most prominent politicians on the planet. He held summits with world leaders, he cut deals with American presidents and played a role in the rise and fall of the Middle East's most feared regime.
But the former deputy Iraqi prime minister has spent the past six years in a US prison in Baghdad and, today, his own family does not know for certain if he is alive or dead.
"I haven't heard from him in weeks.Our lawyers told us he was supposed to have some kind of medical treatment, an operation, but since then, nothing," said Ziad Aziz, his eldest son.
"We don't know what kind of operation he was having and I don't know what happened to him. He might be dead, he might be alive. Of course, we are worried about him.
"We used to speak to him every Wednesday for 10 minutes or so, but there has not been a sound for four weeks."
Tariq Aziz, now 73 years old, was one of the most wanted figures in the country when the US invaded. He surrendered to American troops in Baghdad on April 24, 2003 and has been in detention ever since, held in Camp Cropper. The International Committee for the Red Cross has been allowed intermittent access to him and others at the prison.
An independent source with access to information about US detainees in Camp Cropper told The National, on condition of anonymity, that Tariq Aziz was alive "but in rather poor health, with four or five different problems".
In March, he was found guilty of crimes against humanity by the special Iraqi tribunal set up to prosecute former regime members and was sentenced to 15 years in jail over the execution of 42 merchants, killed more than a decade earlier in a price fixing scandal. He was previously cleared of involvement in the violent suppression of a domestic uprising, which had raised hopes among his family of a total acquittal on all charges against him. They insist he is not guilty of any wrongdoing.
"My father is innocent," said Ziad Aziz, 43, in an interview in Amman, Jordan. "If someone says he is a criminal there must be direct evidence of his criminal act and there has been none against my father. He was convicted under collective responsibility as a member of the government, which is absurd because there was only one person in Iraq giving orders, the president, Saddam Hussein."
The special tribunal, which sentenced Saddam to death in 2006, has been heavily criticised by international human rights groups. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the verdict against Saddam was unsound because of "serious administrative, procedural and substantial legal defects".
The dramatic turnaround in Aziz's fortunes mirrors that of the Baathist regime he had loyally served since joining the ruling Revolution Command Council in 1977. In 1984, he met then US president Ronald Reagan and secured US backing for the disastrous eight-year war with Iran. Six years and one US president later, he was no longer an American ally. Iraq had invaded Kuwait, something the Iraqi deputy prime minister justified on the grounds of competition over oil resources.
Shortly before the 1991 Gulf War, Aziz notoriously refused to accept a letter from the US president, George Bush, to Saddam at a meeting in Geneva, designed as a last-ditch effort to avert the conflict.
A decade of crippling economic sanctions followed that war, during which Aziz survived the various purges and fallings in and out of favour that characterised Saddam's brutal rule.
Ahead of the US-led invasion of 2003, Tariq Aziz publicly said he would rather die than fall into American hands. In the event, he willingly turned himself over, apparently convinced he would be released and allowed to live abroad after a short period of detention and questioning.
"I remember he said, 'Let me go and if there is such a thing as justice, no one will be able to find anything against me'," said his son Ziad. "But I am sure the Americans, the British, the Iraqi government all want him to die in prison. The West doesn't like him because he knows too much about their dealings with Saddam Hussein over the years and they don't want that to be made public. The Iraqis want him dead because he is a Christian and they are Shiites."
While the televised trial of Saddam and some of his main lieutenants, including his half brothers and Ali Hassan al Majid - better known as Chemical Ali for his role in poison gas attacks in northern Iraq - commanded much public attention, there was comparatively little interest in the country over the fate of Aziz. Once the very public face of Saddam's regime, his conviction raised scarcely a murmur.
During Saddam's trial, Aziz testified in support of the former Iraqi leader, saying he "is my colleague and comrade for decades". He accused the ruling Dawa Party of the current Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, of terrorist attacks against the old regime.
His own trial was marked by a less defiant attitude - he slept through much of the prosecution witness testimony.
"He wasn't sad, mainly he was tired of it all," said Ziad. "He's an old man, he has been in prison already for six years and he knows he's innocent."
Despite demanding his father's immediate release, Ziad, who was imprisoned under Saddam on corruption charges, said he was grateful his father remained in US custody and had not been handed over to the Iraqi authorities.
"The Americans at least have laws and, love him or hate him, they will treat him properly under the law. It is better that he is with the Americans. But I know his health is bad and I doubt he will survive another year if he needed an operation."
The last time Aziz had a family visit was in May 2006, when his wife and daughter, Zynab, saw him in prison. Ziad, who maintains that Saddam, in spite of "making mistakes", is the best leader for Iraq, has been in Amman since fleeing there in 2003. He is adamant that he would himself be immediately arrested if he returned.
"Whatever you think of my father, he served his country and did his duty," he said.
"I know him as a man of honour, as a diplomatic man, and a good father. The truth now is that I will never see him again."
psands@thenational.ae
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COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
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Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
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Arsenal 2
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Portsmouth 0
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
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Power: 671hp
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
