Former Iraqi deputy prime minister, Tareq Aziz, the public face of Saddam Hussein's regime, has suffered a stroke.
He was moved from prison to an American military hospital on Thursday. His condition is described as improving.
Aziz, 74, was sentenced to seven years in prison last August for his role in the forced displacement of Kurds from oil-rich northern Iraq during Saddam's rule.
Earlier, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the execution of dozens of traders for breaking state price controls in 1992.
Aziz was Saddam's foreign minister at the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War.
