Saddam's cousin 'Chemical Ali' is executed - Summary

Baghdad - Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid was executed on Monday, a government spokesman said. "The condemned ... has been executed by hanging today," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh announced on state television.

"This penalty is just retribution for the offender," he said. "His body was handed to his family."

Al-Majid, dubbed "Chemical Ali" for ordering the use of chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds in the village of Halabja in 1988, was sentenced to death last week for premeditated murder and crimes against humanity for his role in that and other attacks.

Chemical Ali, one of the most visible faces of Hussein's family and a leading member of the former ruling Baath Party, was the fifth leading member of Hussein's regime to be executed for crimes against the Iraqi people and humanity following convictions from the Iraqi High Tribunal.

On March 16, 1988, a day Iraqis remember as "Black Friday," Iraqi warplanes sprayed the village with mustard gas, Sarin, Tabun, and VX gas, killing at least 3,200, injuring at least 7,000 more, and causing birth defects for years to come.

Al-Majid was among the architects of the broader Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurds that killed as many as 100,000 people.

He was unrepentant during his trial.

"I am the one who gave the orders to the army to demolish villages and relocate the villages," he said. "I am not defending myself. I am not apologizing. I did not make a mistake."

In audiotapes obtained by the New York pressure group Human Rights Watch and played during his trial, he said that he had clearly told the regime's allies in one village that he would attack it with chemical weapons.

"I said I cannot let your village stay because I will attack it with chemical weapons. Then you and your family will die," he said. "I will kill them all with chemical weapons! Who is going to say anything? The international community? To Hell with them!"

The former interior minister was arrested in August 2003, months after the US-led invasion toppled the Baathist government.

He was 69 years old when he was executed.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305699,saddams-cousin-chemical-ali-is-executed--summary.html.