Iraq approves execution of 'Chemical Ali'
Iraq's presidency on Friday approved the execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid, a top Saddam Hussein henchman known to the world as "Chemical Ali" for ordering gas attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s.
"The presidency has approved Chemical Ali's execution," a top Iraqi official told AFP on conditition of anonymity.
He said no date had been decided for the execution by the presidency council, which comprises President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Shiite Adel Abdel Mahdi and Sunni Tareq al-Hashemi.
Majid was sentenced to death for genocide in June last year along with two other Saddam cohorts Sultan Hashim al-Tai, Saddam's defence minister, and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, his armed forces deputy chief of operations.
The three were convicted after being found responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Kurds in the so-called Anfal campaign of 1988.
