THE international face of Saddam Hussein's Iraq has grown thinner and greyer, prison images of Tareq Aziz in US custody show. The photographs of Iraq's urbane former deputy prime minister, wearing an orange jacket and close-fitting white cap, were posted on a website today by US television channel NBC. It did not say precisely when the photographs were taken. The station, which accompanied the photographs with a story saying the 68-year-old was ready to give evidence against former colleagues, did not say how it obtained the images. Both show Aziz wearing his familiar thick glasses but looking thinner and older, very different from the slightly jowly but dapper diplomat who defended Saddam around the world.In February 2003, it was Aziz, a Christian, who engaged in a bout of shuttle diplomacy to try to offset the threat of war, travelling to Europe and meeting with Pope John Paul at the Vatican, as well as other leaders. In two shots, Aziz is sitting with men in blue clothes, their faces blurred out, who may be jailers or interrogators. A third features two US soldiers and Aziz in plastic handcuffs. They are not the first images of Aziz to emerge since he was seized by US forces on April 25, 2003, shortly after the fall of the regime. In July this year, he and 11 other senior members of the former regime, including Saddam, briefly appeared in a court on the outskirts of Baghdad to be informed of general charges against them including war crimes and crimes against humanity. At least two of those 12 are expected to appear before a judge as early as next week, in the next stage of what is expected to be a lengthy process of bringing them to justice.
Aziz, who enjoyed smoking Cuban cigars and was considered by many foreign diplomats to be a wily, skilled negotiator, is not expected to appear before judges again for some time. He was among eight of the 12 top detainees to briefly refuse food at his detention facility near Baghdad airport last week in a short-lived protest against the legality of their detentions and their lack of access to legal counsel. Aziz, who studied English literature and briefly worked as a journalist, was born in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. He was 25th on the US military's 55 most-wanted list.