Former Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz says he expects he will die in an Iraqi jail because he won't live long enough to see freedom.
At 74 years of age, Aziz predicts that he is unlikely to live longer than the two-plus decades he must serve for crimes related to the former Saddam Hussein regime.
"I have no future. I have no future. I'm 74 years old," Aziz told The Associated Press in a brief interview Sunday. "So I have no future."
Aziz surrendered to U.S. forces shortly after they arrived in Iraq in 2003.
He later received a 15-year prison sentence for his role in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants who were found guilty of profiteering. Additionally, Aziz received a seven-year sentence for his role in a case where Kurds were forced out of an area in northern Iraq.
The former Saddam confidant is also involved in a current trial that accuses him of involvement in a campaign that targeted members of the Shiite Dawa Party -- the same party that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member of.
In recent months, the bespectacled Aziz has appeared frail when he has been seen in court, walking with a cane. He is also known to have suffered several strokes.
"I'm sick and tired but I wish Iraq and Iraqis well," the English-speaking Aziz said Sunday.
With files from The Associated Press
