Chemical Ali146;s execution okayed

Iraq8217;s presidential council has endorsed the execution within a month of Saddam Hussein8217;s cousin, known as 8220;Chemical Ali,8221;...

Iraq8217;s presidential council has endorsed the execution within a month of Saddam Hussein8217;s cousin, known as 8220;Chemical Ali,8221; for his role in the 1980s scorched-earth campaign against Kurds, officials said Friday. But it spared the life of two other officials amid Sunni protests that they were only following orders.

The approval by Iraq8217;s President Jalal Talabani and two vice-presidents was the final step clearing the way for Ali Hassan al-Majid8217;s execution by hanging. It could now be carried out at any time, a government adviser and a prosecutor said.

Al-Majid was one of three former Saddam officials sentenced to death in June after being convicted by an Iraqi court of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their part in the Operation Anfal crackdown that killed nearly 200,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas.

Al-Majid was nicknamed 8220;Chemical Ali8221; for ordering poison gas attacks that killed thousands.

The officials said the three-member presidential council agreed to Al-Majid8217;s execution, but did not approve death sentences against the other two 8212; Hussein Rashid Mohammed, an ex-deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces, and former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie.

The fate of the men 8212; who are in US custody 8212; had been in legal limbo since this summer and the decision could represent a compromise to ease Sunni objections to executing al-Taie, widely viewed as a respected career soldier who was forced to follow Saddam8217;s orders in the purges against Kurds.

Al-Majid would be the fifth former regime official hanged for alleged atrocities against Iraqis during Saddam8217;s nearly three-decade rule. Saddam, who also had been a defendant in the so-called Anfal trial, was hanged December 30, 2006, for ordering the killings of more than 140 Shiite Muslims from the Iraqi city of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt against him.

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A government adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and US officials had been informed of the decision by phone and that a meeting was planned to decide when and where the execution should take place. A senior US military official said the military was aware the order had been signed, and that the date for the execution would be determined by the Iraqi government.

WHAT HE DID

8226; Al Majeed owed his rise to family ties to the Iraqi strongman, who came to trust few beyond his Sunni Arab clan based around Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

8226; Played key role in the purge of the Baath party in 1979, when Saddam, formally installed as head of state, sat on the stage of an auditorium and watched 8220;traitors8221; being led away to their deaths

8226; After the overthrow of the Baathist regime US-led coalition forces, Majeed was captured in August 2003

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8226; Was sentenced to death by hanging last June for his role in a military campaign, called Anfal or the Spoils of War after the eighth chapter of the Koran, against ethnic Kurds in the 1980s. Hundreds of thousands were killed

8226;In a separate single attack, not seen as part of Anfal, Majeed reportedly ordered the gassing of 5,000 Kurds in the village of Halabja in March 1988