World / Tariq Aziz Saddam Aide Begins Trial in Baghdad Former top diplomat Aziz faces death for executing merchants By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff Posted Apr 29, 2008 4:16 PM CDT Copied Abdul Amir al-Saedi holds a photo of his father, Jabbar Nadir, who was executed in 1992, in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 28, 2008. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban) The trial of Saddam Hussein’s former deputy prime minister began today in Baghdad, the New York Times reports. Tariq Aziz could get the death penalty for ordering the 1992 execution of more than 40 Iraqi merchants accused of price-gouging. The judge, however, has adjourned until May 20 because of the absence, for health reasons, of fellow defendant Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka “Chemical Ali." (More Tariq Aziz stories.) Report an error