April 30, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 23, 1429

BAGHDAD, April 29: Former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, the public face of Saddam Hussein’s regime, went on trial on Tuesday over the execution of dozens of merchants accused of breaking state price controls in 1992.

A reporter saw Aziz, looking frail and weak in a brown suit and using a walking stick, enter the courtroom with six other defendants when Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman opened the tribunal. He is reported to have been in poor health.

It was the first time the 72-year-old Aziz, who also served as foreign minister under Saddam, has answered any charges since he gave himself up to US troops in April 2003, just two weeks after the former Iraqi leader’s rule ended.

After its first day, the trial was adjourned until May 20.

The merchants were accused of increasing prices of vital goods in breach of state price controls when Iraq was under UN sanctions imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Aziz’s lawyer, Badie Arif, called the charges against his client a “farce”.

“Keeping him in the prison for 5 years has embarrassed the government. There is international pressure ... and so they had to present him as a defendant,” said Arif. “Legally, there’s no case, but we can’t predict how politics will influence it.”

MEDIA PROMINENCE: The only Christian in Saddam’s inner circle, Aziz rose to prominence in the world media around the time of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War.

Easily recognised by his large spectacles and white hair, Aziz played Iraq’s top diplomatic role in the run-up to the Gulf War when he was foreign minister, exhibiting faultless English, strong nerves and negotiating skills.

Other defendants included Saddam’s half brothers Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, interior minister when the executions occurred, and Sabaawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a former top security official, court spokesman Aref Shaheen said.

A former finance minister, central bank governor and two senior Ba’ath party members also faced the Iraqi High Tribunal.—Reuters