MIDDLE EAST:Ali Hassan al-Majid, once the most feared man in Iraq after his cousin Saddam Hussein, was yesterday sentenced to death by Iraq's special tribunal for masterminding the genocidal Anfal campaign against Iraq's Kurds during the late 1980s.
Better known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of gas against Kurdish towns and villages, Majid was sentenced to death along with two other former officials for their roles in the military operation of 1988 that led to the deaths of up to 180,000 Kurds.
Two other former senior regime members were jailed for life for their part in the Anfal, whose name was taken from the Koranic verse justifying the killing and looting of "infidels". A sixth defendant was acquitted.
Saddam had also been accused of genocide in the Anfal case but all charges were dropped when he was hanged on December 30th last after being found guilty of the 1983 Dujail massacre.
The sentences now go to automatic appeal and the defendants have 30 days to state their case.
The judge said victims of the Anfal should get compensation.
In the Kurdish town of Halabja, near the border with Iran, where chemical weapons killed 5,000 civilians in March 1988, there was satisfaction with the verdict, though some wanted to see Majid executed in the town where he had wreaked so much misery.
"Today's verdict is a victory for all Kurds and all free people," said Mariwan Horshid, a police officer. "Nothing can undo our pain, but now perhaps the world can know what happened."
Announcing yesterday's verdict, Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa told Majid that he been found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed after Saddam Hussein had appointed him as the director of the Baath Party's northern bureau in 1987.
"You had all the civil and military authority for northern Iraq," he said to Majid, who stood alone in the dock of the heavily fortified courtroom in Baghdad's Green Zone.
"You gave orders to the troops to kill Kurdish civilians and put them in severe conditions," the judge continued. "You subjected them to wide and systematic attacks using chemical weapons and artillery. You led the killing of villagers. You . . . committed genocide. There are enough documents against you."
Majid remained silent, muttering only a "thanks be to God" when his sentence was read out.
Earlier in the trial, he had denied ordering the use of chemical weapons but acknowledged ordering the killing of anyone who refused to obey orders to leave villages designated for obliteration.