Two former UN humanitarian coordinators for IRAQ appeal again for the release of former deputy prime minister of Iraq Tariq Aziz

  • Denis Halliday (Former UN Assistant Secretary General & United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1997-98 - Ireland)

  • Hans von Sponeck (Former UN Assistant Secretary General & United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq 1998-2000 - Germany)

[Spanish version]

As two former UN humanitarian coordinators for Iraq, we repeat the appeal we made last year to the US government for the release of Tariq Aziz, former deputy prime minister of Iraq.  

Tariq Aziz has been imprisoned for the past three and a half years without charge. During this period his fundamental rights under international law have been disregarded, as in the case of other prisoners of war (POWs) and political prisoners in Iraq. We renew our appeal for Tariq Aziz because of his poor and deteriorating health and the resulting danger to his life. 

We knew Tariq Aziz as the senior-most Iraqi official to whom we turned when our humanitarian work demanded his intervention for the betterment of the Iraqi people.  

It was Tariq Aziz who supported us in making the case to the UN Security Council for an increase in the size of the UN humanitarian exemption to sanctions. It was Tariq Aziz who made it possible for us to collect information on the effectiveness of the equitable distribution of humanitarian supplies. It was Tariq Aziz who allowed a critical presentation to the then Iraqi National Assembly on the human rights situation in Iraq. It was Tariq Aziz who contacted the Kurdish authorities to facilitate our travels across the line of control for talks with Kurdish authorities. We have known Tariq Aziz as a defender of the Iraqi people’s rights and as a person of high integrity. 

The continued confinement of a sick POW is at the individual level one example of the tragic mishandling of a nation. We are asking the US government to show statesmanship and release Tariq Aziz on humanitarian, if not legal, grounds.  

We turn to all those who have known Tariq Aziz in difficult circumstances to support this appeal, especially former US Secretary of State James Baker and US Representative Lee Hamilton. We hope that the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr El Baradei, and his predecessor Dr Hans Blix, who also served as the last head of the UN Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission in Iraq will support this appeal. We also call on incoming UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to share our position and use his influence with the US and current Iraqi authorities to secure the release of Tariq Aziz and other Iraqi POWs. 

New York/Müllheim, 2 January 2007 

The BRussells Tribunal supports the above appeal of Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck and renews its call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Iraq, whether held by US or Iraqi authorities — in particular those held, charged or convicted by the occupation’s illegal courts, including the so-called Iraqi Special Tribunal or Iraqi Higher Criminal Court.

APPEAL FOR THE PROPER TREATMENT OF MR. TARIQ AZIZ

Denis J. Halliday  & Hans von Sponeck 

New York / Muellheim, 27 January 2006  

                                  

 

                   The BBC has reported that Mr. Tariq Aziz has suffered a stroke and that his lawyer fears “he may not live more than a month” following a “cerebral embolism”. The lawyer, Badie Arif Ezzat,  has said that Mr. Tariq Aziz is being held in a two square meter cell that was “only fit to keep dogs in”.

                   Given his apparent health situation and the fact that he has not been charged after giving himself up in April 2003, this is a request for his release from Hans von Sponeck and Denis J. Halliday, former United Nations Humanitarian Coordinators in Iraq (1997-2000).

                   In keeping with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, Mr. Tariq Aziz, former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq is entitled to humane treatment and should not be further held without charges after three years if incarceration.

                   At the age of 70 years, in a state of severely diminished health and now what is reported to be a stroke:

                   we express our distress at the inhumane treatment accorded Mr. Tariq Aziz and ask that he be released immediately by US/Iraqi authorities from custody in the absence of any charges, and be allowed to join his family in a location where adequate medical facilities can be provided.

                   We also ask that all other Iraqi prisoners being held without charge be released by US/ Iraqi authorities without delay. We likewise ask that all those civilians, journalists, aid workers and other innocents being held in Iraq by those involved in resistance to invasion and occupation also be released immediately.

                   In addition, we hope, indeed expect, that former and current high ranking officials in Washington and London, as well as Paris, Moscow and Beijing, and elsewhere, who in the recent past have had personal contact and communications with Mr. Tariq Aziz, including the present UN Secretary-General,  will join in this request for humane treatment.  

                  Signed: 

 

Denis J. Halliday  & Hans von Sponeck 

New York / Muellheim, 27 January 2006