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Britain rules out Aziz asylum
26/04/2003 11:54 - (SA)
London - Britain on Saturday indicated it would not be prepared to grant asylum to Tareq Aziz after a newspaper reported the former Iraqi deputy prime minister had asked to move here in exchange for information on Saddam Hussein's regime.
The Sun, Britain's best selling daily tabloid, reported that Aziz had told his US interrogators that he was willing to tell all if he could have a new identity and was allowed to move to Britain.
Quoting an unnamed "insider", the Sun said Aziz feared being executed by Iraqis or being detained by US authorities.
A spokeswoman for Britain's Home Office said: "It is ridiculous to suggest asylum will be granted to an individual who has been involved in activities that have abused the human rights of others."
Governments normally have to consider all asylum applications but the 1951 Refugee Convention makes an exception of war criminals.
"We do not have to consider it," the Home Office spokeswoman said, as US officials questioned Aziz, looking for clues to the fate of toppled Iraqi president Saddam.
Aziz, the highest profile member of Iraq's ousted regime to fall into US hands so far, surrendered to coalition forces Thursday, a US official said.
As the English-speaking foreign minister during the 1991 Gulf War, Aziz became the public face of Saddam's Iraq, but he was only 43rd on a US list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, and was not seen as part of Saddam's inner circle. - Sapa-AFP
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