Middle East News
Iraqi presidency approves Saddam's cousin execution
Feb 29, 2008, 9:52 GMT
Baghdad - The Iraqi presidency approved the execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid, cousin of former president Saddam Hussein, for killing thousands of Kurds in Anfal campaign in 1988, media reports said Friday.
The death sentence of al-Majid is to be implemented in the coming 30 days, said the official Iraqi television channel al-Iraqiya.
Reports said the execution warrant was signed by President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies.
On June 24, 2007, Iraq's Special Tribunal sentenced Al-Majid, whose nickname is Chemical Ali, along with two other defendants former defence minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad and former assistant to the Iraqi army's chief of staff, general Hussein Rashid Mohamed al- Takriti - to death on charges of genocide.
Between 50,000 and 180,000 people were killed, by various estimates, in the Anfal campaign waged by Saddam against Kurds in northern Iraq in the waning days of the Iran-Iraq war.
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