Tariq Aziz, a close aide of Saddam Hussein, died in an Iraqi hospital at the age of 79, an official said Friday.
"Tariq Aziz died in Hussein Teaching Hospital in the city of Nasiriyah, where he was brought when his health condition worsened," said Adel Abdulhussein al-Dakhili, deputy governor of Dhi Qar Province in south Iraq, where he was kept in a prison, according to AFP.
"He died because of a heart attack," said Dr. Saadi al-Majed, Dhi Qar's health chief, according to AFP.
The Iraqi government has also confirmed his death.
Dakhili said Aziz had repeatedly been admitted to the hospital because he was suffering from heart-related problems, high blood pressure and diabetes. He further added that his body will be handed over to his family later.
Ziad, Aziz's son, expressed outrage that Iraqi authorities had not informed him of his father's death and that he had to learn about it from the news, reported Al Jazeera
Aziz, who served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister under Hussein's rule, surrendered to United States security forces in 2003 and had been a prisoner ever since, reported the BBC. He was the "eight of spades" on the famous deck of cards featuring Iraq's most wanted that the U.S. issued following invasion.
He was sentenced to death in 2010 after being found guilty of persecuting Shi'ites in Iraq under Hussein's dictatorship, but was not executed, according to Reuters.
"Tariq Aziz was the propaganda mouthpiece for Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party in Iraq and the masterly negotiator responsible for Baghdad's foreign relations during the dictatorship," the Daily Telegraph commented abouy Aziz's role in Hussein's administration.
Aziz, known as a fierce American critic during the Gulf War, was the only Christian in the Sunni-dominated government. He survived an assassination attempt by Iran-backed militants in 1980. He was born in the northern town of Sinjar into a Chaldean Catholic family.
Aziz is survived by his wife, two sons, Zaid and Saddam, and two daughters, Zainab and Maysa, according to the Guardian.
