Iraq's "Chemical Ali" gets 4th death sentence

[David]

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi court sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majeed, the Saddam Hussein henchman widely known as "Chemical Ali," to death by hanging Sunday for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000 Kurds.

Majeed, a cousin of Saddam's who earned his nickname because of his use of poison gas, was convicted of crimes against humanity for an attack on the Iraqi Kurdish town of Halabja. He already faces death sentences in three other cases.

"Thanks to God," Majeed said when the sentence was read.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the execution would take place "very soon."

"It will not take a long time for Hassan al-Majeed to receive his just punishment for the crimes he committed against the Iraqi people," Dabbagh told Reuters, declining to give a timeframe.

The Iraqi High Tribunal also sentenced former Defense Minister Sultan Hashem and former military intelligence chief Sabir al-Douri to 15 years in prison each for the attack, and Abd Mutlaq al-Jubouri, a former regional intelligence chief, to 10 years.

Majeed was captured in August 2003, five months after U.S. forces invaded Iraq. He had a reputation for ruthlessness in crushing Saddam's opponents that won him widespread notoriety. Many Iraqis feared him more than the leader himself.

He was sentenced to hang in June 2007 for his role in a military campaign against ethnic Kurds, codenamed Anfal, that lasted from February to August of 1988.

Majeed also received a death sentence in December 2008 for his role in crushing a Shi'ite revolt after the 1991 Gulf War and another in March 2009 for his involvement in killing and displacing Shi'ite Muslims in 1999.

Disputes within Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government have so far stalled Majeed's execution.

Saddam was executed in December 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shi'ite men and boys following a 1982 assassination attempt.

About 290,000 people disappeared in Iraq under Saddam's rule from 1979 to 2003, according to estimates by New York-based Human Rights Watch. The Iraqi High Tribunal was set up after the 2003 U.S. invasion to try former members of his government.













Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hasan Al-Majeed, known as "Chemical Ali", stands in court in Baghdad in this June 24, 2007 file photo.

[darrels joy]

Iraq's 'Chemical Ali' Infamous for 1988 Gas Attack


Monday, 25 Jan 2010 11:47 AM
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Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, who was hanged Monday, ordered the infamous poison gas attack on the northern Iraqi Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988 that killed 5,000 people and earned him the chilling moniker "Chemical Ali."

Al-Majid was executed a week after he received his fourth death sentence, the final one for the Halabja attack. He bore a striking resemblance to Saddam and was one of the most brutal members of the dictator's inner circle.

The general led sweeping military campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s that claimed tens of thousands of lives — wiping out entire villages in attacks against rebellious Kurds and cracking down on Shiites in southern Iraq.

Al-Majid was one of the last high-profile members of the former Sunni-led regime still on trial in Iraq. His conviction and sentencing on Jan. 17 was his fourth death sentence.

Al-Majid was a warrant officer and motorcycle messenger in the army before Saddam's Baath party led a coup in 1968. He was promoted to general and served as defense minister from 1991-95, as well as a regional party leader.

In 1988, as the eight-year Iran-Iraq war was winding down, he commanded a scorched-earth campaign known as Anfal to wipe out a Kurdish rebellion in northern Iraq. An estimated 100,000 people — most of them civilians — were killed over less than a year. Later, al-Majid boasted about the attacks, as well as the separate March 16, 1988, gas attack on Halabja, where an estimated 5,000 people died.

He was also linked to crackdowns on Shiites in southern Iraq, including the bloody suppression of their 1991 uprising. In a previous trial, he was also sentenced to death for that crackdown.

The previous sentences were not been carried out in part because Halabja survivors wanted to have their case against him heard.

Al-Majid, was Saddam's "hatchet man," Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch in New York, remarked when the general was touring Arab capitals seeking support two months before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

"He has been involved in some of Iraq's worst crimes, including genocide and crimes against humanity."

Hazem al-Youssefi, a representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, once described al-Majid as a standout in a regime of criminals.

http://newsmax.com/Newsfront/ML-Iraq...1/25/id/347906