Former Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz - Saddam Hussein's top aide who was sentenced to death - has died of a heart attack in hospital in southern Iraq at the age of 79, officials said.

Aziz fell ill and died after he was taken to the al-Hussein hospital in the city of Nasiriyah, about 200 miles south east of Baghdad, according to provincial governor Yahya al-Nassiri.

He was the highest-ranking Christian in Saddam's government and was the international face of the regime for years.

He was sentenced in October 2010 to hang for persecuting members of the Shiite Muslim religious parties that now dominate Iraq.

A Baghdad government official confirmed the death.

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