One of Iraq's late leader Saddam Hussein's top deputies, Tariq Aziz, has died in hospital in Nassiriya, Iraq's al-Sumaria TV reported on Friday.
Aziz was transferred to the hospital from prison after suffering a heart-attack on Thursday, al-Sumaria said, citing the deputy governor of the surrounding province of Dhi Qar, Adel Abdulhussein al-Dakhili.
Aziz, 79, served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister and was a close adviser to Saddam, becoming one of the best known faces of the regime and one of its most hated figures in Iraq.
He was the highest ranking Christian official under Saddam's presidency and a member of the former ruling Baath Party's inner circle.
Aziz first came to prominence while serving as foreign minister during the first Gulf War in 1991 and played a vocal role before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, meeting Pope John Paul II at the Vatican to call for peace.
With his black-rimmed glasses and love of cigars, Aziz travelled globally where he defended his leader from the many allegations of abuses Saddam was accused of.
In the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Aziz was the "eight of spades" on the famous deck of cards of Iraq's most wanted released by US authorities.
He surrendered to US troops in 2003 shortly after the fall of Baghdad and had been a prisoner since.
Iraq's Supreme Court in 2010 sentenced Aziz to death for the persecution of religious parties under Saddam's rule but he was never executed.
He served as Iraq's foreign minister between 1983 and 1991 and as deputy prime minister between 1979 and 2003.
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