The son of former Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz said the death sentence handed down to his father Tuesday for persecuting religious groups was a politically motivated ruling, DPA reported.
"My father has never had any relationship with religious parties in Iraq," Ziad Aziz said from Jordan, where he lives.
"In fact, he was a victim, when the Dawa Party attempted to assassinate him," said the younger Aziz, calling the ruling "political and not judicial."
The Dawa party, a Shiite grouping now headed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, was accused in 1980 of throwing a grenade at Aziz.
The former minister and two other aides to toppled dictator Saddam Hussein were found guilty of targeting religious groups, including the Dawa Party, and were sentenced by Iraq's top court to be hanged.