Iraqi leaders say they have found a way to execute Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali and one of Saddam Hussein’s most notorious henchmen. Mr. Majid was sentenced to death last June, and the approval of his execution comes after months of struggling with a legal dilemma that seemed to mean his hanging would also send to the gallows a respected former general whose execution was opposed by several top Iraqi leaders as well as American commanders reports the New York Times.
Officials from Iraq’s three-member presidency council said on Friday that Mr. Majid will be turned over by his American jailers and executed shortly.
“The presidential council decree to execute Ali Hassan al-Majid was approved,” said Laith Shubbar, an official in the office of Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi. An American military spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The presidency council, which previously had blocked the execution, consists of Mr. Mahdi, who is Shiite, Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who is Sunni, and President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.
Read it here: Iraq Clears Execution of ‘Chemical Ali’