Britain rules out asylum for Tareq Aziz
Tareq Aziz
LONDON (AFP) Britain last Saturday indicated it would not be prepared to grant asylum to Tareq Aziz after a newspaper reported the former Iraqi deputy prime minister had asked to move here in exchange for information on Saddam Hussein's regime.
The Sun, Britain's best selling daily tabloid, reported that Aziz had told his US interrogators that he was willing to reveal all if he could have a new identity and was allowed to move to Britain.
Quoting an unnamed "insider", the Sun said Aziz feared being executed by Iraqis or being detained by US authorities.
A spokeswoman for Britain's Home Office said: "It is ridiculous to suggest asylum will be granted to an individual who has been involved in activities that have abused the human rights of others."
Governments normally have to consider all asylum applications but the 1951 Refugee Convention makes an exception of war criminals.
"We do not have to consider it," the Home Office spokeswoman said, as US officials questioned Aziz, looking for clues to the fate of toppled Iraqi president Saddam.
Aziz, the highest profile member of Iraq's ousted regime to fall into US hands so far, surrendered to coalition forces overnight Thursday-Friday, a US official said.
As the English-speaking foreign minister during the 1991 Gulf War, Aziz became the public face of Saddam's Iraq, but he was only 43rd on a US list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, and was not seen as part of Saddam's inner circle.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Friday that Aziz should be able to provide "important information" about Saddam's regime.
There had been speculation that Aziz had fled to Syria. But his son, Saddam Aziz, 25, a dentist, said he remained in Baghdad throughout, according to the Guardian newspaper.
The family moved out of their home in a government compound known as Jadriya on the banks of the river Tigris before the US bombing started, Saddam Aziz said.
"We were afraid it would be bombed. So we arranged something and moved elsewhere. My father would sleep with us sometimes. On other nights he went to other places."
The Guardian quoted Saddam Aziz as saying
that his father had gone into hiding the day US forces captured
Baghdad. "He dropped out of contact with the family. I suppose
it was to protect us. I think that was his idea."
His son said he hoped the US would treat Tareq Aziz well. He had
no idea where they had taken his father, but he hoped the family
would have access to him as soon as possible.
"How would you feel? It was very sad. He's not a war criminal. He was just a politician and a diplomat," the Guardian quoted Saddam Aziz as saying.
"He was not serving a particular person. He was serving Iraq. He was serving his country. He did not kill or hurt any Iraqi people."