Can't say I'm surprised or that he don't deserve it.Ali Hassan al-Majid, a former Iraqi official known as Chemical Ali, has been sentenced to death for ordering the gassing of Kurds.
It is the fourth time that Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein's regime, has been sentenced to death.
He has also been convicted of the killings of Shia Muslims in 1991 and 1999 and for his role in a campaign of genocide against Kurds in the 1980s.
His latest sentence is for a gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.
It is believed that 5,000 people died in the attack, most of them women and children. Iraqi jets swooped over Halabja and for five hours sprayed it with a lethal cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX.
Majid was a cousin of Saddam Hussein, and earned his nickname after his use of poison gas.
HALABJA ATTACK 1988
Gas attack at Halabja in 1988
16 March: Kurdish town of Halabja hit by gas attack
Iraqi aircraft drop mustard and nerve gas bombs
About 5,000 people killed, mostly women and children
Part of wider "Anfal" campaign against Kurds
Happened near end of Iran-Iraq War
Survivors cancer-prone, birth defects common
The Al-Iraqiya channel said Majid would be killed by hanging.
The Iraqi High Tribunal also sentenced former defence minister Sultan Hashem to 15 years in prison for the Halabja attack, a court official said, quoted by Reuters.
The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, says that for Kurds, Halabja is the single most traumatic atrocity they suffered during Saddam Hussein's long campaign against them in the 1980s and they had wanted Majid to face justice for it.
It is believed Iraqi authorities will now want Majid executed without delay.
However, he does have the right of appeal, our correspondent adds.
Majid was captured in August 2003, five months after US forces invaded Iraq.
He was sentenced to hang in June 2007 for his role in a military campaign against ethnic Kurds, codenamed Anfal, that lasted from February to August of 1988.
In December 2008 he also received a death sentence for his role in crushing a Shia revolt after the 1991 Gulf War.
In March 2009 he was sentenced to death, along with others, for the 1999 killings of Shia Muslims in the Sadr City district of Baghdad.
The Iraqi High Tribunal was set up to try former members of Saddam Hussein's mainly Sunni government and was the same one that sentenced the former president to death.
Fourth death sentence for 'Chemical Ali'
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frigidmagi
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#1 Fourth death sentence for 'Chemical Ali'
BBC
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KlavoHunter
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#2
I had no idea they hadn't already taken this animal out back and shot him yet.
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Cpl Kendall
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#3
I thought he was dead years ago. Though I find the multiple death sentences darkly amusing. Planning to resurrect and kill him a couple of more times, are they?
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SirNitram
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#4
This strikes me as extending the prison term beyond which a human could live before potential parole. Stupid.
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#5
The title originally had me go 'WTF? The guy got the sentence downgraded THREE TIMES?'Cpl Kendall wrote:I thought he was dead years ago. Though I find the multiple death sentences darkly amusing. Planning to resurrect and kill him a couple of more times, are they?
I'm used to multiple life sentences heaped on the same person. Multiple DEATH sentences, that was new to me. As the Cpl mentioned, what are they going to do? Resurrect the guy?One (possibly the only) positive side effect of the death sentence is that once it was carried out, the sentenced is incredibly unlikely to become a repeat offender.
Last edited by Batman on Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Derek Thunder
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#6
Cpl Kendall wrote:I thought he was dead years ago. Though I find the multiple death sentences darkly amusing. Planning to resurrect and kill him a couple of more times, are they?
Current file photo of 'Chemical Ali.'
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#7
...so much for me refraining from mentioning that being killed and resurrected again, and again, and AGAIN, is no fun because I felt it was inappropriate I guess.
'I wonder how far the barometer sunk.'-'All der way. Trust me on dis.'
'Go ahead. Bake my quiche'.
'Undead or alive, you're coming with me.'
'Detritus?'-'Yessir?'-'Never go to Klatch'.-'Yessir.'
'Many fine old manuscripts in that place, I believe. Without price, I'm told.'-'Yes, sir. Certainly worthless, sir.'-'Is it possible you misunderstood what I just said, Commander?'
'Can't sing, can't dance, can handle a sword a little'
'Run away, and live to run away another day'-The Rincewind principle
'Hello, inner child. I'm the inner babysitter.'
'Go ahead. Bake my quiche'.
'Undead or alive, you're coming with me.'
'Detritus?'-'Yessir?'-'Never go to Klatch'.-'Yessir.'
'Many fine old manuscripts in that place, I believe. Without price, I'm told.'-'Yes, sir. Certainly worthless, sir.'-'Is it possible you misunderstood what I just said, Commander?'
'Can't sing, can't dance, can handle a sword a little'
'Run away, and live to run away another day'-The Rincewind principle
'Hello, inner child. I'm the inner babysitter.'
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frigidmagi
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#8
Part of it is politics. Basically this guy has offends so many people in Iraq that they all want him condemend for some thing he did against them.
Another part is the Iraqi government wants to really make sure everyone remembers how crappy life under a strongman was.
Lastly, they're basically trying him for a set of crimes separately one after another.
Another part is the Iraqi government wants to really make sure everyone remembers how crappy life under a strongman was.
Lastly, they're basically trying him for a set of crimes separately one after another.
"it takes two sides to end a war but only one to start one. And those who do not have swords may still die upon them." Tolken