BAGHDAD — Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein’s best- known lieutenants, accused the Shiite-led government of seeking revenge during a trial Tuesday over the executions of dozens of Baghdad merchants in 1992.
Aziz told an Iraqi court, which resumed hearing the case against him and seven co-defendants, that he was proud of being a member of Hussein’s Sunni-dominated Baath party and serving under the former dictator.
The trial deals with the execution of 42 merchants accused by Hussein’s government of being behind a sharp increase in food prices when the country was under strict U.N. sanctions.
The merchants were rounded up over two days in July 1992 from Baghdad’s wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices.
