Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former Iraqi official known as Chemical Ali, has been sentenced to death for ordering the gassing of Kurds, BBC online reports Sunday.
It is the fourth time that Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein’s regime, has been sentenced to death. He has also been convicted of the killings of Shia Muslims in 1991 and 1999 and for his role in a campaign of genocide against Kurds in the 1980s.
His latest sentence is for a gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. It is believed that 5,000 people died in the attack, most of them women and children. Iraqi jets swooped over Halabja and for five hours sprayed it with a lethal cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX. Majid was a cousin of Saddam Hussein, and earned his nickname after his use of poison gas.
The Al-Iraqiya channel said Majid would be killed by hanging. It is believed Iraqi authorities will want Majid executed without delay. However, he does have the right of appeal.
