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Tariq Aziz's lawyer criticizes proceedingsSays his client told him he won't take stand against Saddam
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The lawyer for former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said Thursday his imprisoned client told him he will not testify in court against Saddam Hussein and that he wants a trial on "independent soil." Attorney Badi Aref Izzat said Aziz describes himself as being "in good health," but said he misses his family, whom he has not seen since his surrender after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Aziz surrendered April 25 that year after the fall of Baghdad. He was No. 25 on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqis and the eight of spades in the card deck that had the names and faces wanted regime officials. "My client told me that he is in good health and spirits, and the medical treatment offered to him is improving, despite his more than two-year detention," Izzat said in a telephone interview with CNNArabic.com. Aziz was perhaps the Iraqi official most recognized by Westerners, with his white hair, glasses and articulate statements in fluent English. The interview came two days after Izzat said he witnessed the first official interrogation of Aziz at a U.S. base near the Baghdad airport. The lawyer said it was not clear whether four people present during the two-hour interrogation were court members. An Iraqi special tribunal was set up last year to hear the cases against Aziz, Saddam Hussein and other officials from his regime. The detainees face preliminary charges of crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said last July. The tribunal in June released video of magistrates questioning Saddam. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in May said that a trial for Saddam would begin within two months. (Full story) Izzat said no date was set for the next legal move. "Aziz told me that he will not take the witness stand against Saddam," the lawyer said. He called on President Bush and the international community to apply pressure to get his client released. The lawyer repeated that "any interrogation or future trial, if there is any evidence against Mr. Aziz, should be conducted on an independent soil, such as Holland or Sweden." "This [is] the first time I attend so-called official interrogation for my client, Tariq Aziz, since his surrender, although I am not sure if the room I was taken to in the U.S. base in Baghdad was a real court, or even those who were attending are really members of any court," Izzat said. He took issue with the fact that the office of the Iraqi prime minister will oversee the trials, calling the situation "political and illegal." "Such a trial should be handled by the Justice Ministry or the Judicial Council," he said. The attorney said that during the two-hour interrogation he was asked to sign a letter preventing him from leaking any information about the interrogation process or discussions. Aziz and the other senior aides are in the legal custody of Iraq but are under U.S. guard, Izzat said. Asked about Aziz's condition, the lawyer said, "He looked psychologically and health-wise better, and even the clothes that he was wearing this time were much better. "But Tariq is always asking about his family, and keeps asking when he can see them." Izzat said Aziz and other senior aides to Saddam are housed in separate cells but are allowed to see one another three hours a day. Saddam is held in another area, and none of his officials had seen him since a few days before the U.S.-led attack, the lawyer said. He said prisoners had no access to newspapers or television, and he complained about his client's isolation. Izzat also said Aziz is concerned about the health of Dr. Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, accused of overseeing Saddam's suspected biowarfare research programs -- a claim she denied. Pentagon officials nicknamed her "Mrs. Anthrax" for the alleged key role she played in rebuilding Iraq's surreptitious biological weapons program in the mid-1990s. A former senior Baath party official, she was No. 53 of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis and was taken into custody in May 2003 in Baghdad. "She's got cancer, and all medical reports done by the U.S. confirms that she is sick," Izzat said, quoting Aziz. In late May, U.S. and Iraqi authorities revealed that in letters Aziz reportedly wrote in jail he pleaded for international intervention and said he has been unjustly accused and denied access to personal mail. (Full story) CNN's Caroline Faraj contributed to this report. 
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