'Chemical Ali' to be executed
Ali Hassan al-Majid earned the nickname Chemical Ali during the Anfal campaign
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Sunday, 24, Jun 2007 09:58
A cousin of executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging after being convicted of genocide against ethnic Kurds.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali', was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by an Iraqi court.
Two co-defendants in the so-called Anfal trial, named after the campaign which reportedly saw up to 180,000 Kurds killed, were also sentenced to death by the Baghdad court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Of the three other defendants, two were handed life sentences for the same offences, while the last was cleared of all charges.
Al-Majid earned the nickname Chemical Ali after being accused of orchestrating the Anfal campaign, which means spoils of war in Arabic, that saw 2,000 villages destroyed between February and August 1988.
The prosecution produced a tape in court where al-Majid was heard to say: "I will strike them with chemical weapons and kill them all."
Saddam Hussein had been involved in the same trial until he was hanged last year for separate charges relating to the death of 148 Shia Muslims in Dujail in 1982.
Today's trial saw former defence minister Sultan Hashim Ahmed and ex-Republican Guard leader Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti sentenced to hang, while former intelligence chief Saber Abdul Aziz and ex-army general Farhan al-Jibouri were handed life sentences in prison.
Taher Muhammad al-Ani, the former governor of Nineveh province, was cleared of war crimes and crimes against humanity charges due to a lack of evidence.