IRAQ. SADDAM'S JAILED NUMBER TWO AZIZ TO TESTIFY AGAINST OLD BOSS: REPORT

Britain’s Sunday Telegraph reported that Iraq's former number two Tareq Aziz would testify against his old boss Saddam Hussein at the toppled dictator's trial for war crimes in return for his freedom. The ex-deputy prime minister, 69, would have the most serious charges against him dropped and be allowed to spend his dotage in exile, where he wanted to write a book about his life, The Sunday Telegraph said, quoting Aziz's lawyer. The one-time mouthpiece of Saddam's regime had agreed to plead guilty to minor charges under a deal that was reached after more than two years of negotiations, it said. Aziz's lawyer, Badie Izzat Arief, was quoted as saying his client had "given them facts, well-known facts" in more than 300 interviews with US officials. During the interviews, Aziz was questioned repeatedly about whether Saddam had signed execution orders. "They asked him whether the executions were decided by Saddam Hussein or the court," said Arief.
"He said that Saddam had the right to ratify or not. It depended on him."