The Body of Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's Deputy, 'Was Stolen' on the Way to Jordan

The daughter of Tariq Aziz, Saddam Hussein's deputy, stated that her father's body, which passed away last week in a prison in Iraq, was stolen on Thursday, June 21, during its transfer to Jordan for burial. According to the Associated Press, Zainab, Tariq Aziz's daughter, said that her mother was waiting at Baghdad International Airport for the delivery of the coffin and its transfer to Jordan, but the body went missing at the airport. Iraqi officials have not yet responded to this news, and a Jordanian official, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that the last flight from Iraq to Jordan on Thursday was also without Tariq Aziz's body. Tariq Aziz, who was sentenced to death and held in a prison in Nasiriyah, passed away last Friday due to a heart attack. Zaid Ali Abbas, the head of Iraq's forensic medicine, stated that the autopsy results confirm that his death was due to a heart attack. Tariq Aziz was the highest-ranking Christian official in Saddam Hussein's government and was considered the international face of the Ba'ath Party of Iraq. In October 2010, he was sentenced to death for persecuting Shiite religious groups that currently hold power in Iraq, but Jalal Talabani, the then-President of Iraq, refrained from signing his death sentence. In recent months, speculation has arisen that some former officials of Saddam Hussein's regime are collaborating with the Islamic State (formerly ISIS) against the Shiite government in Iraq. Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a senior aide to Saddam Hussein, is among those accused of collaborating with Sunni groups in Iraq against Baghdad. Some Iraqi officials announced in April that Izzat Ibrahim was killed in a battle near Tikrit. However, the promised DNA test results from the Iraqi government were not released. Tariq Aziz's daughter, who appeared to be deeply upset, refused to comment on the perpetrators and their motives for stealing her father's body.