'Chemical Ali' gets 3rd death sentence

Saddam Hussein's top henchman and cousin "Chemical Ali" was given his third death sentence by an Iraqi court yesterday, this one for his involvement in killing and displacing Shi'ite Muslims in 1999.

Ali Hassan al-Majeed, who earned notoriety for his role in using poison gas to kill thousands of Kurdish villagers, was condemned to death for "premeditated killing as a crime against humanity" and displacing civilians in raids on their homes.

His previous sentences were for masterminding a genocidal campaign against Kurds in the 1980s and killing thousands of Shi'ites in a crackdown on their uprising after the 1991 Gulf War. Those executions have been held up by political wrangling.