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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Baghdad - Asharq Al-Awsat

Iraq Committee Demands Govt. to Seize Assets of Saddam Era Officials

A committee has demanded that the assets of Saddam era officials be seized. (Reuters)

Iraq’s Accountability and Justice Committee called on Sunday for seizing the assets of dozens of officials who were in power during the term of late leader Saddam Hussein.

The committee made its demand in a letter to the Iraqi government.

The letter, seen by Agence France Presse, was also sent to the ministries of finance, justice and agriculture.

It lists Saddam-era government ministers and officials from his Baath Party, including some who are in prison, who have been executed or have died, as well as the names of their wives, children, grandchildren and other relatives.

Among those named is Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam better known as "Chemical Ali", who was hanged in 2010 for ordering the 1988 gassing of thousands of Kurds.

Tareq Aziz, a veteran foreign minister who held the post of deputy prime minister before Saddam was ousted in the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, is also named in the letter. Sentenced to death in 2013, Aziz died two years later in prison.

His son Ziad, who lives in Jordan, condemned the letter as nothing more than "a stunt to win votes" in Iraq's May 12 legislative election.

"We've been subjected to pressure and injustice for 15 years, it's enough," he told AFP in a telephone interview. "When will the spite of this so-called government end?"

Ziad Aziz denied his family had any assets, saying his father's house in Baghdad had already been seized by prominent Shiite politician Ammar al-Hakim.

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