A British paper said Aziz offered information in swap for British asylum

LONDON, April 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The British government ridiculed Saturday, April 26, media reports about the possibility of giving Iraqi Deputy Premier Tareq Aziz, now in the custody of American forces in Baghdad, asylum in swap for information on the whereabouts of Iraqi regime leaders and alleged weapons of mass destruction.

The Sun, Britain's best selling daily tabloid, reported that Aziz had told his American captors he was willing to sell them his information in exchange for a new identity and residence in Britain, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Quoting an unnamed "insider", the paper said Aziz feared being executed by Iraqis or being detained by U.S. authorities.

Commenting on the report, a spokeswoman for Britain's Home Office said it "is ridiculous to suggest asylum will be granted to an individual who has been involved in activities that have abused the human rights of others."

Governments normally have to consider all asylum applications but the 1951 Refugee Convention makes an exception of war criminals.

"We do not have to consider it," she said, as U.S. officials questioned Aziz, looking for clues to the fate of Saddam.

Aziz, the highest profile member of Iraq's ousted regime to fall into U.S. hands so far, surrendered to coalition forces late Thursday, April 24, a U.S. official said.

As the English-speaking foreign minister during the 1991 Gulf War, Aziz became the public face of the Iraqi regime, but he was only 43rd on a U.S. list of 55 most wanted Iraqis, and was not seen as part of Saddam's inner circle.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Friday that Aziz should be able to provide "important information" about Saddam's regime.

There had been speculation that Aziz had fled to Syria. But his son, Saddam Aziz, 25, a dentist, said he remained in Baghdad throughout, according to the Guardian newspaper.

The family moved out of their home in a government compound known as Jadriya on the banks of the river Tigris before U.S. bombing started, Saddam Aziz said.

"We were afraid it would be bombed. So we arranged something and moved elsewhere. My father would sleep with us sometimes. On other nights he went to other places."

The Guardian quoted Saddam Aziz as saying that his father had gone into hiding the day U.S. forces rolled into Baghdad.

"He dropped out of contact with the family. I suppose it was to protect us. I think that was his idea."

His son said he hoped the U.S. would treat his father well.

He had no idea where they had taken his father, but he hoped the family would have access to him as soon as possible.

"How would you feel? It was very sad. He's not a war criminal. He was just a politician and a diplomat," the Guardian quoted Saddam Aziz as saying.

"He was not serving a particular person. He was serving Iraq. He was serving his country. He did not kill or hurt any Iraqi people."

Mohammed Mohsen Al-Zubaidi, a former Iraqi exile who declared himself governor of Baghdad, told the BBC he gave the Americans the information that led them to arrest Mr Aziz and his family.