EU urges Iraq to drop death sentence against Tareq Aziz

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The European Parliament urged Iraq on Thursday to drop a death sentence against Tareq Aziz, warning that killing him would “do little to improve the climate of violence.” The parliament adopted a resolution reiterating its opposition to the death penalty in all cases, including war crimes and genocide, and called it “the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.” Executing Aziz, 74, “will do little to improve the climate of violence in Iraq” when the country “is in dire need of national reconciliation,” the resolution says. The parliament, however, acknowledged “the importance of holding accountable those who violate human rights, including (former) politicians, in the framework of the rule of law and due process.” Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said last week that he would not sign the execution order against Aziz, who served as deputy prime minister under Saddam Hussein. But the EU parliament noted that the Iraqi constitution includes “mechanisms for executions to be carried out on parliamentary authority.” Aziz was handed the death penalty on October 26 for the suppression of Shiite religious parties in the 1980s, and is also on trial for a crackdown on Iraqi Kurds, of which Talabani is one. SH (P) 1