Iraqi President refuses to sign execution order for Tariq Aziz because he is a 'Christian and an old man'

Refusing to sign: Iraqi president Jalal Talabani said he was a 'socialist' and sympathised with Tariq Aziz

Saddam Hussein’s one-time deputy Tariq Aziz could be saved from the hangman’s noose – despite being sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.
Iraqi president Jalal Talabani revealed yesterday he will not sign an execution order for the 74-year-old former foreign minister.
In an interview with French TV he said: ‘I sympathise because he is an Iraqi Christian. Moreover he is an old man who is over 70.’
Iraq’s high tribunal passed a death sentence on Aziz – once the international face of Saddam’s government – in October over the persecution of Islamic parties in Iraq during Saddam’s rule.
The Vatican and Russia both called on Iraq not to carry out the sentence on humanitarian grounds.

Tariq Aziz was sentenced to death by the Iraqi high tribunal in October

Iraq's high tribunal passed a death sentence on Aziz, once the international face of Saddam's government, in October over the persecution of Islamic parties in Iraq during Saddam's rule.

The Vatican and Russia both called on Iraq not to carry out the death sentence on humanitarian grounds, noting his age and health problems. The Vatican said mercy would help the war-torn country make progress toward reconciliation, peace and justice.
Aziz, a Christian, was well known in foreign capitals and at the United Nations before Saddam's downfall.
The U.S. government did not join the appeals to spare Aziz's life. Analysts said that was partly because the United States itself carries out the death penalty and also possibly because it did not consider his hands to be entirely clean.
It was not clear whether Talabani's opposition to signing the death sentence would prevent it from being carried out.
Iraq executed Saddam in 2006 despite Talabani's apparent refusal then to sign, and the president's powers since his re-election last week are not the same as they were during his last term.
A leading Iraqi lawyer said he believed Aziz's death sentence could not legally be carried out without Talabani's signature on the execution order.
'According to the Iraqi constitution, the president of the state has the power to ratify death sentences before they are carried out,' said the lawyer, Tariq Harb.
'Death sentences cannot be implemented without the approval of the president. This is what is in the constitution.'