trial , Aziz was acquitted . Aziz , one of the best-known faces of the Hussein regime , was Iraq 's deputy prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and also served as minister of foreign affairs for part of that time . He was captured by U.S. forces in April 2003 , shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq . Meanwhile , car bombs in the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul and Kirkuk killed six people on Wednesday , officials told CNN . The Mosul car bomb , which targeted troops , killed four people and wounded 14 others , an Interior Ministry official said . The car , parked near the city 's medical college , blew up near an Iraqi army patrol . Of the dead , three were soldiers . Four other soldiers were among those wounded . Mosul , which has long been a volatile city , has had a strong militant presence . In Kirkuk , a parked car bomb exploded near a police patrol , killing two civilians and wounding seven others . The oil-rich and ethnically diverse city is known for sectarian and political tension . People were injured in wo other incidents
BAGHDAD , Iraq -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The top court in Iraq sentenced two of Saddam Hussein 's half-brothers to death Wednesday for crimes against humanity . Tariq Aziz , seen in 2002 , was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in jail for crimes against humanity . The court also sentenced former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and a former senior official known as '' Chemical Ali '' -- Ali Hassan al-Majeed -- to 15 years in custody for crimes against humanity , an official with the Iraq High Tribunal told CNN . The men were sentenced for their roles in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants . In an unrelated trial last week , Al-Majeed was sentenced to death for his role in putting down an uprising in Baghdad a decade ago , Iraqi state TV reported . It was the third death sentence for al-Majeed , a cousin of Hussein , the former dictator of Iraq who was toppled from power by the U.S.-led coalition in 2003 . Al-Majeed and other former members of Hussein 's regime remain in U.S. custody . His execution has been delayed for political rather than legal reasons . In last week 's