An Iraqi court sentenced Saddam Hussein's cousin "Chemical Ali" to death on Tuesday for crushing a Shiite revolt after the 1991 Gulf War. It was the second death sentence to be handed down against Ali Hassan al-Majeed, who earned his nickname for his role in using poison gas against Kurdish villages. He was first condemned to be hanged last year for the killing of tens of thousands of Kurds in the 1980s, but that sentence was held up by political wrangling.
Judge Mohammad al-Uraibi also sentenced a former top Baath party official, Abdul Ghani Abdul Ghafour, to hang for his involvement in the crackdown on Shiites in the south, and 10 others to sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison. The judge said the court had decided to execute Majeed "by hanging for committing wilful killings and crimes against humanity".
The court, the Iraqi High Tribunal, was set up to try former members of Saddam's government and was the same one that sentenced the former president to death. Saddam was executed in December 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shiite men and boys after a 1982 assassination attempt.
Majeed's reputation for ruthless use of force to crush opponents won him widespread notoriety during Saddam's rule and led many Iraqis to fear him even more than the leader himself. Saddam's execution sparked anger among minority Sunni Arabs, who were outraged by a video showing the ousted leader being taunted by official observers of the governing coalition in the moments before he was hanged.
His half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was executed two weeks later in a botched hanging that ripped off his head. Two other members of the former government have also been executed. Also currently on trial is former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, the public face of Saddam Hussein's regime, who is facing charges over the execution of dozens of merchants accused of breaking state price controls in 1992.