AMMAN, 29 August 2005 — Iraq’s former number two Tareq Aziz has aged and lost considerable weight since he was detained by US forces more than two years ago, his daughter Zinab said in statements published yesterday in Jordan.
Zinab was among several family members allowed to visit Aziz last week for the first time since he was put in a US-run prison near Baghdad airport after he surrendered to US forces in April 2003.
She told the Jordanian daily Al-Dustour that her 69-year-old father “appeared weak and pale and looked as if he was in his 80s”.
“He takes 13 pills daily for various illnesses and has lost 15 kilograms,” Zinab said.
During the family reunion, Aziz joked about his weight loss and told his wife, Violet: “You always wanted me to lose weight. The Americans made me lose weight without even having to go on a diet,” Zinab was quoted as saying.
She said the meeting, which was first announced on Aug. 20 by Aziz’s lawyer Badie Aref Ezzat, lasted 30 minutes and “seemed like a dream”.
“I kissed him, heard him laugh,” she said. The relatives were able to hug Aziz the minute they saw him but then were separated from him and seated behind a plastic divider in order to continue the visit, said Zinab.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Aziz is set to be tried alongside deposed leader Saddam Hussein and other former regime leaders for as yet unspecified war crimes and crimes against humanity charges.
Aziz, born in 1936 and a fluent English speaker, was a common face on foreign television during his stint as foreign minister and later as deputy prime minister starting in 1983.
During the visit, Aziz repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and told his family: “Don’t worry about me. I am fine. You know I am innocent and I am not afraid. They want to try me, let them put me on trial but I hope the trial will be fair,” Zinab quoted him as saying.
Aziz, an Assyrian Christian, was a fiercely loyal Saddam supporter and traveled to foreign events when the dictator would not leave for security reasons.
Detainee Escapes
A detainee from the notorious Iraqi prison of Abu Ghraib, which is operated by the US military, escaped early yesterday, a US military statement said.
“At approximately 6:15 a.m. (0215 GMT), US forces discovered the detainee was missing during a normal headcount,” the statement said, without specifying the nationality of the detainee.
“Two holes were found in the fence line surrounding the compound where the detainee escaped,” the statement added.
The US military announced Saturday that it had released around 1,000 prisoners from Abu Ghraib prison, in the largest single release since the US military took it over as a detention facility in the aftermath of the March 2003 invasion.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad alluded yesterday that the release would be followed by similar waves.
“This is not a one-time action. The United States... is working with the Iraqi government to accelerate the judicial process to release detainees who are not guilty of serious acts of violence and who pledge their willingness to become good citizens of the new Iraq,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, eight Iraqis, including four policemen, were killed in separate rebel attacks yesterday, security sources said.
Two policemen were shot dead as their patrol came under fire in the Al-Khadra neighborhood in Baghdad, while two others were killed in a similar incident in Al-Jihad western neighborhood of the capital, an Interior Ministry source said.
