Tariq Aziz, a former senior aide for Saddam Hussein who has been in jail since April last year, met with his defense lawyer for the first time shortly before he is expected to be interrogated by an investigative judge, the attorney said Friday. Badee Izzat Aref, lawyer of the former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said he met his client for about five hours "and he wrote me notes with his own hand about several things." Aref did not say when he met with Aziz, who has been in detention at an unspecified location since the fall of Baghdad in April last year. The meeting comes 10 days after interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said war crimes trials against Iraq's former Baath Party leaders were about to start. Last week, Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali for his role in poison gas attacks against the Kurdish minority, and former Defense Minister Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmad appeared at a preliminary hearing. Aziz, was among 12 defendants, including Saddam Hussein, who appeared before the judge to hear charges against them in July. He is also expected to be formally interrogated soon.
