Saddam Hussein's cousin known as "Chemical Ali" was executed Monday, said Iraq's government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. A week ago, Ali Hassan al-Majid was sentenced to death for the poison gas attacks that killed more than 5,000 Kurds in 1988.
Al-Majid was convicted last Sunday for ordering the poison gas to be dropped on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988 as part of a campaign against a Kurdish uprising. Last Sunday's sentence came 10 months after the Iraqi court handed down a death sentence to al-Majid for his involvement in the killing and displacement of Shiites in 1999.
He had already received death sentences for crushing a Shiite revolt soon after the 1991 Gulf War. His execution has been delayed by legal disputes over his conviction.
Al-Majid was captured in August 2003, five months after the toppling of Saddam.
