Aziz without defence team

TAREQ AZIZ, the international face of the brutal regime of hanged Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, was back in the dock yesterday on charges of crimes against humanity — but without any lawyers to defend him.

Aziz, 72, is on trial along with seven other defendants over the execution in 1992 of 42 Baghdad merchants accused of racketeering while Iraq was under UN sanctions. The former foreign minister and deputy prime minister said he was “proud” to have been a member of the now disbanded Baath party but that he could not be held responsible for the charges against him.

Prosecutor Adnan Ali outlined the charges against Aziz and the other defendants, including Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali, who has already been sentenced to death for genocide in another case.