Saddam Hussein’s former foreign minister Tariq Aziz was convicted of crimes against humanity and jailed for 15 years today for the 1992 execution of 42 traders accused of profiteering while Iraq was under UN sanctions.

An Iraqi court has resumed hearing the case against Tariq Aziz and seven other former regime officials who face charges in the 1992 execution of dozens of merchants.

Former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz went on trial today accused of involvement in the murders of dozens of food suppliers.

The spiritual leader of Iraq’s Catholics today made a Christmas appeal for refugees who have fled the country to return.

The hundreds of thousands of people missing in Iraq are just the tip of the country’s looming humanitarian crisis, the International Red Cross warned today.

Saddam top aide wishes he had been executed with the deposed leader, an Iraqi lawyer said today.

The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial was replaced today amid complaints from Shiite and Kurdish officials that he was too soft on the former Iraqi leader, a move that could raise accusations of government interference in the highly sensitive case.

Tariq Aziz, once a close member of Saddam Hussein’s inner circle, took the stand today as a defence witness in the Baghdad trial of the former Iraqi leader.

Exasperated, besieged by global pressure, Saddam Hussein and top aides searched for ways in the 1990s to prove to the world they had given up banned weapons, according to newly-released documents.

Notorious Saddam-Hussein-era officials have been released from jail in Iraq and some have already left the country, an Iraqi lawyer said today.

The lawyer of former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said today that he has received several death threats and asked for US and British protection.

RUSSIAN officials yesterday furiously denied allegations linking companies and politicians to corruption in the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq, saying that the report implicating them relied upon forgeries and false statements.

HALF of the 4,500 companies in the UN oil-for-food programme, including Volvo and Daimler Chrysler, paid €1.5 billion in kickbacks and illicit surcharges to Saddam Hussein’s government, a UN report has concluded.

A French attorney for Saddam Hussein today dismissed an Iraqi court’s statement that the former dictator had fired an international defence team, but conceded the team could only provide behind-the-scenes help.

Saddam Hussein’s deputy Tariq Aziz has refused to testify against the former Iraqi leader at his trial, Aziz’s lawyer said, adding he expected Aziz to be released soon.

Top Saddam Hussein lieutenant Tariq Aziz will not testify against ousted dictator in any criminal trial, Aziz’s lawyer said today.

TARIQ Aziz, Saddam Hussein’s former deputy prime minister, has appeared before Iraq’s special tribunal as it steps up the process of questioning former regime loyalists about war crimes.

BRITISH MP George Galloway is to appear before a US Senate committee to defend himself against accusations that he received vouchers for 20 million barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein.

A US Senate committee probing corruption in the UN oil-for-food programme released new evidence purporting to show that two leading politicians from Britain and France received millions of barrels of Iraqi oil in exchange for their support of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

One of Iraq’s top scientists – dubbed Mrs Anthrax – is dying of cancer in US custody a lawyer claimed today.

A suicide bomber blew up his his car outside the home of the leader of Iraq’s biggest political party today, killing 15 people and injuring dozens.

At least nine people died and 39 were injured when a suicide bomber targeted the home of the leader of Iraq’s biggest political party today.

A gas tanker truck wired with explosives blew up in a west Baghdad neighbourhood, killing one person, wounding 19 and lighting up the night sky with a fireball just hours after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld left the Iraqi capital.

Tariq Aziz, the international face of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime, will not testify against the former dictator, his lawyer said today.

Tariq Aziz, once Saddam Hussein’s urbane voice to the world but now languishing in an Iraqi prison, has met his defence lawyer for the first time since his arrest in April last year.

War crimes trials against Iraq’s former Baath Party leaders will begin next week, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said today.

Worsening security, legal complexities and the lack of an Iraqi lawyer willing to represent Saddam Hussein make it impossible for the ousted dictator and 11 others to stand trial any time soon, a US official said today.

Imprisoned former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz has told his son that he faces the death sentence after being accused of responsibility for mass killings in 1979 and 1991.

Saddam Hussein should be bailed in Europe while he awaits trial, his lawyer said today.

Saddam Hussein’s new novel returns to his favourite theme of good v evil – the good being Arabs and Muslims, the bad being the West.

Tariq Aziz, the urbane, English-speaking envoy of the former Iraqi regime, argued today that he was not personally responsible for any murders during his appearance before an Iraqi judge.

The 12 former Iraqi regime figures due in court in Baghdad to hear charges against them are:

IRAQ'S new authorities took legal control of Saddam Hussein and 11 others in Baghdad yesterday, setting the stage for a court appearance for the former Iraqi dictator to face war crimes charges on his 24 years in power.

Iraq’s new authorities took legal control of Saddam Hussein and 11 others in Baghdad today, setting the stage for a court appearance to face war crimes charges on his 24 years in power.

Legal custody of Saddam Hussein and 11 others was transferred to the Iraqis today, an international official said in Baghdad.

Iraqis and the world will get their first glimpse of Saddam Hussein since his capture in December when he and 11 of his top lieutenants are brought to court tomorrow to face war crimes charges likely to include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

SADDAM HUSSEIN will be transferred to Iraqi legal custody and face charges in an Iraqi court this week but he won't go on trial for months.

A lawyer claiming to represent a nephew of Saddam Hussein has said he has filed a suit at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged war crimes by British military leaders in Iraq.

The head of Iraq’s war-crimes tribunal said today that the United States had pledged to hand over Saddam Hussein and about 100 other suspects to Iraqi authorities before July 1, when Iraq assumes sovereignty from its US-led occupiers.

Saddam Hussein told his American interrogators that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, it was reported tonight.

Iraq is preparing to put deposed dictator Saddam Hussain on trial in his absence for war crimes and genocide .

The Australian government was today accused of exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein to justify sending its soldiers to war in Iraq.

Coalition forces have captured one of Iraq’s top biological weapons scientists dubbed Chemical Sally.

ABOUT 250 leading Iraqis from across the political and ethnic spectrum held a US-sponsored meeting yesterday to launch a new democratic era after the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule.