Chemical Al to Hang

Saddam Hussein's cousin, known as "Chemical Al" and two other regime officials were sentenced to hang for slaughtering up to 180,000 Kurdish men, women and children with chemical weapons, artillery barrages and mass executions two decades ago. Two other defendants were sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the l987-l988 crackdown, known as "Operation Anfal". A sixth defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence. Death sentences are automatically appealed. The most notorious defendant was Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, who gained his nickname for ordering the use of mustard gas and nerve agents against the Kurds in response to their collaboration with the Iranians during the l980-l988 Iran-Iraq War. Witnesses testified that Iraqi government forces indiscriminately atacked women and children, burned crops, killed livestock and rounded up civilians into detention camps in a campaign to exterminate the restive Kurdish minority.