Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali", has been sentenced to death for ordering the gassing of Kurds in the Iraqi village of Halabja, state television has reported.
Al-Majid, who was a senior aide to Saddam Hussein, the executed Iraqi leader, was sentenced to be hanged for the 1988 attack, in which 5,000 Kurds are thought to have died.
Families of some victims cheered in court when the guilty verdict was handed down on Sunday.
"The decision has been issued today, January 17, to sentence Ali Hassan al-Majid, to death by hanging ... for crimes against humanity," Aref Abdul-Razzaq al-Shahin, the head of the court, said.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/01/20101177190839368.html
