Al-Majid Ordered Chemical Attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan Villages

 

January 18, 2010 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Ali Hassan al-Majid a senior aide to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, has been sentenced to death by hanging for his role in ordering the brutal chemical attack on the Iraqi Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988.

 

Al-Majid who is better known by his nickname ‘Chemical Ali’, ordered use of banned chemical bombs such as Mustard gas, Tabun, Sarin and VX on civilians in the remote village of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan mountains, killing more than 5000 civilians mainly women and children, by Iraq’s highest court, yesterday in Baghdad.

 

‘The decision has been issued today, January 17, to sentence Ali Hassan al-Majid, to death by hanging ... for crimes against humanity,’ said Aref Abdul-Razzaq al-Shahin, the head of the court. The same court also sentenced other former Iraqi officials, including former defense minister up to 15 years in prison.

 

During their heydays, Saddam Hussein and senior aide the ‘Chemical Ali’ who is also his first cousin, ruled Iraq with outmost brutalities particularly against other ethnic groups like the Kurds and Shia population all over the country. However, the former Baathist regime was especially supportive of close family members coming from a region called Tikrit, where Saddam Hussein himself was born and where he was finally captured by the US forces some months after his fall.  

 

The chemical attack on Halanja was just one many such attacks on civilians during the time. In all nearly 182,000 Kurds were killed by similar methods, while 4000 villages were destroyed across the Iraqi Kurdistan in an operation dubbed Anfal.