An Iraqi court has sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majeed, widely known as ‘Chemical Ali’, to death by hanging for a 1988 gas attack that killed about 5,000 Kurds.
Majeed, a cousin of Saddam Hussein who earned his nickname because of his use of poison gas, already faces death sentences in several other cases.
The Iraqi High Tribunal also sentenced former Defence Minister Sultan Hashem to 15 years in prison for the attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja.
Majeed was captured in August 2003, five months after US forces invaded Iraq.
He was sentenced to hang in June 2007 for his role in a military campaign against ethnic Kurds, codenamed Anfal, which lasted from February to August of 1988.
Majeed also received a death sentence in December 2008 for his role in crushing a Shia revolt after the 1991 Gulf War and another for his involvement in killing and displacing Shia Muslims in 1999.
