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| |  | | Tarek Aziz | | | context : | Iraq  | | judgement place : | Iraqi Special Court | | status : | On trial | | particulars : | Arraignment 1st of July 2004, trial on charges of arbitrary execution began on 29 April 2008 | | position : | Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister of Information |
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| | | | Tarek Aziz was born near Mosul, in Tell Kaif, Iraq, in 1936. Originally named Mikhail Yahunna, he was born to a modest Chaldean Catholic family.
In the late 1950's, he joined the Ba'th Party as one of its early members.
He then changed his name to Tarek Aziz, meaning "Glorious Path".
Tarek Aziz first met Saddam Hussein through their common involvement in then outlawed Ba'th Party.
Following the Ba'th coup in 1963, he was hired as editor of the Ba'th party newspaper. He was later sent to Syria for work.
In the following years, Tarek Aziz rapidly accumulated roles and positions within the government and the Ba'th party.
Within the party, he became a member of the Regional Command in 1994, later member of the national leadership, and in 1977, Ba'th party leader.
From 1974 to 1979, Tarek Aziz was Minister for Information. In 1977, he was elected to the Revolution Command Council. From 1979, he was Deputy Prime-minister, and from 1983 to 1991, as well as briefly in 2001, Foreign Minister.
In April 1980, he was the target of an assassination attempt, but was not injured
In 1984, Iraq and the US officially restored diplomatic relations after a meeting at the White House between Tarek Aziz and President Reagan.
Tarek Aziz managed to obtain American support for Iraq in its eight-year conflict with Iran, and helped forge strong economic ties with the Soviet Union and France.
He later had as a mission to defend Iraq's attack on Kuwait in 1990.
On March 23, 1991, he was discharged as Minister of Foreign Affairs and fully invested his position as Deputy Prime Minister.
In December 2002, the US government publicly accused Iraq of concealing weapons of mass destruction. What the US wanted, Tarek Aziz averred, was not "regime change" in Iraq but rather "region change".
In the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion, Tarek Aziz, as Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, repeatedly denied Iraq possessed or was developing any weapons of mass destruction.
On March 19, 2003, several sources reported Tarek Aziz had been shot dead while trying to enter the Kurdish part of the country. The rumour vanished when Tarek Aziz held a public press conference. After the fall of the regime, Aziz was deposed of all his positions in April. His home was also looted.
He surrendered to United States forces on April 24, 2003. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | also known as : | | | Mikhail Yahunna | | | last time seen : | | | Baghdad | | | judgement period : | | | 29.04.2008 | | | charges : | | | Other | | | profile last modified : | | | 29.04.2008 |
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