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Aziz lawyer wants trial moved to safety of Kurdistan

AMMAN, May 4, 2008 (AFP) - The trial of Tareq Aziz, former Iraqi deputy premier, should be moved from Baghdad to the relatively safe autonomous northern Iraq Kurdistan region for security reasons, his lawyer said on Sunday.

"I ask the Iraqi government to move the trial to Kurdistan where the security situation is much better than in Baghdad," Badie Aref told AFP in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

"It will be easier for the Iraqi, Arab and foreign defence lawyers to attend a trial in Kurdistan, and it will be better for the detainees. The security situation in Baghdad makes it difficult to attend the trial," he said.

Aziz, 71, who surrendered to American troops in Iraq in April 2003 a month after the invasion, went on trial on April 29 on charges of executing 42 Baghdad merchants for hiking food prices when Iraq was under tight UN economic sanctions.

The trial at the Iraqi High Tribunal was adjourned to May 20 after Aziz demanded a new lawyer, saying that his counsel "Badie Aref was unable to attend for security reasons."

Prosecutors say the businessmen were arrested in Baghdad's wholesale markets and executed after a speedy trial in 1992.

They also allege that the former regime then seized the merchants' money and property.

Aziz could face the death penalty if convicted.

Aref also said he had counselled Aziz to "keep absolute silent throughout the trial" to indicate that "we do not recognise the legitimacy of the tribunal."

Aziz "is a diplomat and had nothing whatsover to do with security matters," the lawyer added.