Death Sentence for 'Chemical Ali'

The man known as “Chemical Ali,” a cousin and former accomplice of Saddam Hussein, was sentenced to death today on charges of crimes against humanity for a gas attack he helped organize in Halabja, Iraq, that resulted in the deaths of 5,000 Kurds. This is not the first death sentence for Ali Hassan al-Majid—he has been convicted three times for similar attacks that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, part of Hussein’s crackdowns on Shias and Kurds throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Al-Majid’s previous sentences have not been enacted due to complications from a dispute over the conviction of former defense minister Sultan Hasim al-Taie, whom the current president and vice president believe was forced to participate in the attacks.