Aziz lawyer offers to support London mayor

The lawyer for Tareq Aziz on Wednesday offered to support London Mayor Boris Johnson who is being probed for possession of a cigar case belonging to Iraq's former deputy prime minister. "I am ready to contact Johnson, stand by him and provide all necessary support in this ridiculous investigation," Badie Izzat Aref told AFP from the Jordanian capital Amman."Johnson did not steal or commit any crime, he simply took a souvenir.

He has always respected Tareq Aziz, who wishes Johnson had taken other valuable things, like his notebooks, which have been seized by the invaders."
The 43-year-old former journalist has admitted to having found the red leather cigar case among the debris of Aziz's home in Baghdad while visiting Iraq as a reporter after the U.S. -led invasion of 2003.

He wrote about it at the time and kept it as a trophy of his trip. Johnson, who took office last month, said on Tuesday he even has a letter from Aziz's lawyers stating that fallen dictator Saddam Hussein's senior aide wanted the mayor to keep the cigar case as a gift. Aref had no knowledge of any such communication, "but I am ready to send him the letter," he said. The London mayor has jokingly said it was "incredible" that he was being investigated while leaders like U.S. President George W. Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair were not being pursued.

Aref agreed. "Blair is the one who should be investigated and put on trial for his role in invading Iraq and for killing thousands of innocent people," the lawyer argued.Aziz, 72, who like Saddam had an affinity for Cuban cigars, and seven others are on trial in Baghdad over the execution of 42 merchants accused of racketeering while Iraq was under U.N. sanctions. He turned himself in to U.S. forces in April 2003 after they overthrew Saddam.