An Iraqi court today issued a new death sentence for the former Saddam Hussein regime official best known as "Chemical Ali," this time for his 1991 role in violently suppressing Shiite Muslim unrest, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 22).
Ali Hassan al-Majid was previously sentenced to hang for abetting the massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Iraqi Kurds under the government of his cousin Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s. Al-Majid allegedly ordered the use of chemical weapons in the campaign.
Hussein was hanged in late 2006. A total of five trials have been conducted against former members of his regime; two cases have not finished.
Al-Majid and former Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz are still being tried on charges related to the crushing of a 1999 Shiite uprising (Sameer Yacoub, Associated Press/Google News, Dec. 2).