An Iraqi appeals court has upheld the death sentence against Saddam Hussein's cousin for masterminding a genocidal campaign against Iraq's Kurds in the 1980s.
"The nine appeal judges have upheld the death sentence against Ali Hassan al-Majeed [widely known as "Chemical Ali"] and . . . the sentence must be carried out within 30 days," the chief prosecutor in the trial said.
He said the court also upheld the death sentences against two other accused, Sultan Hashim, Saddam's former defence minister, and Hussein Rashid, the former deputy head of operations for the Iraqi military.
Majeed, once one of the most feared men in Iraq, was convicted of genocide in June for directing the 1988 Anfal military campaign against Kurds. Prosecutors said up to 180,000 people were killed, chemical weapons used and villages destroyed.
Majeed has also just gone on trial for his role in crushing a Shia rebellion in southern Iraq in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War. Prosecutors have said he could be executed before the latest trial is completed.
During the Anfal trial, Majeed, now in his 60s, admitted to ordering troops to execute Kurds who ignored orders to leave their villages but not to the use of poison gas.
Mustard gas and nerve agents were used to clear villages, earning Majeed his nickname "Chemical Ali".
The appeals court upheld the life sentences issued by the Iraqi High Tribunal to two other defendants in the Anfal trial and agreed to drop charges against the former governor of Mosul.