BAGHDAD (Agencies)
Iraq's presidency council has approved the execution of Saddam Hussein's cousin and most notorious henchman, Ali Hassan al-Majeed, known as "Chemical Ali", for masterminding a genocidal campaign against Iraq's Kurds in the 1980s.
The sentence is to be executed within 30 days, according to AlArabiya News Channel, citing unnamed Iraqi officials.
Iraq’s presidency council comprises President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, vice-presidents Shiite Adel Abdel Mahdi and Sunni Tareq al-Hashemi.
Al-Majeed, a former defense minister, was nicknamed Chemical Ali after he ordered gas attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s.
He was convicted on genocide charges over the slaughter and initially sentenced to death in June last year. He was charged along with two other Saddam cohorts Sultan Hashim al-Tai, Saddam's defense minister, and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, his armed forces deputy chief of operations.
The approval appeared to remove the last legal obstacle to Majeed's execution. He was due to have been hanged last year but the execution was held up after the presidency council, made up of Iraq's president and two vice-presidents, refused to approve it.
Saddam Hussein himself was hanged December 30, 2006. |
