U.S. Hands Over Former Iraq Deputy PM Tariq Aziz

Tariq Aziz in court in April 2008

Iraq's deputy justice minister says U.S. authorities have handed over Iraq's former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, along with 55 other members of Saddam Hussein's former regime.

Busho Ibrahim said the handover took place over the last three days.

U.S. officials confirmed the transfer, but gave no details.

AFP quoted Badie Aref, a lawyer for Aziz, as saying his client's life was "in danger now."

Aziz was appointed deputy prime minister in 1991 under Hussein.

He was jailed for 15 years for murder in 2009, and last year was given a seven-year sentence for his role in expelling Kurds from Iraq's north.

compiled from agency reports