U.S. denies transfer of Baath officials

BAGHDAD, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. officials denied a request from the Iraqi government to hand over custody of former officials of the Baath regime facing war crimes charges, sources say.

In an apparent reference to negotiations centered on the long-term security agreement between Baghdad and Washington, the media arm of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUKmedia, said Friday Iraqi officials had asked Washington to turn over the officials as part of the deal.

Officials with the former regime, including former Deputy Premier Tariq Aziz and Ali Hassan al-Majid, or "Chemical Ali," are in U.S. custody at detention facilities in Iraq.

An Iraqi war crimes court in Baghdad sentenced Majid and several others to death for an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq in the 1980s. Aziz faces charges in the court for his alleged involvement in the deaths of several businessmen who were protesting rising food prices in the wake of the U.N. sanctions regime.

A source from the Iraqi government has told al-Hayat newspaper the suspects should be handed to Iraqi custody since it was an Iraqi court that is handling the court procedures.

The Iraqi court in 2006 sentenced former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to death for crimes against humanity. He was executed that December.