Iraqi Court Acquits Hussein Aide in 1999 Crackdown on Shiite Protest

Iraq’s special criminal court on Monday acquitted Tariq Aziz, the man who once served as the urbane, cigar-smoking public face of Saddam Hussein’s rule, in the first of three cases against him, delivering the most significant not guilty verdict in the prosecutions for crimes against humanity that occurred before the American invasion in 2003.