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Tareq Aziz
1936-2015
Iraq's jailed former foreign minister Tareq Aziz, who used his mastery of English to put a gloss on Saddam Hussein's murderous regime for two decades, died in hospital on Friday aged 79.
Named foreign minister in 1983 and then deputy premier in 1991, Aziz was believed to have wielded little real power.
But he became one of the regime's best-known figures abroad as Saddam's voice who matched and at times outshone his US peers in debate.
Born in the northern town of Sinjar on April 28, 1936, Aziz was from a Chaldean Catholic family.
He changed his name from Michael Yuhanna to Tareq Aziz to allay any hostility to his Christian background.
Aziz had known Saddam since the 1950s, but was kept outside the closed Sunni Muslim circle of the president's fellow clansmen from the city of Tikrit even as he rose to become the top Christian in the Baathist government.
Once omnipresent, haranguing the international media and instantly recognisable in his trademark thick glasses, neat uniform and large cigar, Aziz turned himself over to US custody a month after the US-led invasion that overthrew Saddam.
Very little was heard of Aziz during his time in custody.
He was reported to have suffered two heart attacks, with the second said to have been caused by a three-day hunger strike to protest against his detention.
The image of an ailing old man is very different to his previous existence defending seemingly lost Saddam causes.
His strong command of English, learned at university, gave him a platform to deliver fierce tongue-lashings guaranteed to make diplomats squirm and to attract the attention of the media.
Agence France-Presse


Tareq Aziz - the man who put a gloss on Iraq's brutal regime - dies at age 79

Tareq Aziz in the Saddam Hussein years. Photo: Reuters

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