AMMAN, Jordan (AP):

Jordan's Cabinet has granted citizenship to the wife and son of a top aide of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Violet and Saddam Aziz, the wife and youngest son of former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, moved to Yemen last year when Saddam found a job as a dentist in the Yemeni capital.

A Jordanian Cabinet statement said yesterday Violet, 68, and Saddam, 30, were granted citizenship on humanitarian grounds.

Aziz's eldest son, Ziad, who was also given a Jordanian citizenship last year, declined comment.

Tariq Aziz was the international face of Saddam Hussein's regime for several years. He was convicted to jail terms for the killing of Iraqi merchants and the forced displacement of Kurds in northern Iraq.