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Iraqi government wants to execute three Saddam aides together
Agencies
Published: March 19, 2008, 14:40


Baghdad: The Iraqi government wants to execute three aides of former president Saddam Hussein together, including his cousin "Chemical Ali", Iraqi media reported on Wednesday.

Ali Hassan Al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, along with former defence minister Sultan Hashim and former army chief of operations, Hussein Al-Tikriti, were all sentenced to death in June for a genocide campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s.

Al-Majid earned the name Chemical Ali for gassing the Kurds in the brutal crackdown.


The row over the planned executions pits prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki against the presidential council, which has vetoed the executions of Hashim and Al-Tikriti.

Hashim and Al-Tikriti are regarded by many Sunni Arabs as career soldiers who were just following orders.

Sunni vice-president Tarqi Al-Hashimi has launched a campaign to spare Hashim, who along with the two other Saddam-era officials are in US custody.

The US military is refusing to hand the three over to the Iraqi authorities before the legal wrangling is resolved.