‘Chemical Ali’ hanged in Iraq for killing tens of thousands

Atrocities: Hassan al-Majid has been given four death sentences

Saddam Hussein's cousin "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid was executed today for crimes against humanity.

The former henchman was hanged after being given four death sentences for a string of atrocities that left thousands dead, an Iraqi government spokesman said. Majid was the King in America's notorious pack of cards of the most wanted of Saddam's acolytes. His death marks the highest profile execution since Saddam was hanged more than three years ago.

Majid was first sentenced to death in June 2007 for genocide after ordering the deaths of thousands of Kurds during the 1988 Anfal campaign.

Iraqi forces attacked villages with poison gas, which led to Majid's grim nickname.

He was given a second death penalty for war crimes and crimes against humanity over a bloody crackdown on Shias during their unsuccessful uprising after the 1991 Gulf war.

The third death sentence was imposed for the murder of Shia Muslims a decade ago in the Sadr City district of Baghdad.

He was sentenced to death for a fourth time for ordering the gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.

Today Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said: "The death sentence against Ali Hassan al-Majid has been carried out." Saddam was hanged in December 2006 after being captured by US troops.

As Iraq announced Majid's execution, at least 37 people were killed today in a series of car bombs at three hotels in central Baghdad, according to police.

The violence erupted as attention focused back in Britain on the appearance before the Iraq inquiry on Friday of formerprime minister Tony Blair.

Today former defence secretaries Des Browne and John Hutton were giving evidence to the special panel.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in