Chemical Ali Sentenced to Death

(Baghdad) Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka Chemical Ali, has been sentenced to death for the 1988 gassing of Kurds in the town of Halabja, killing more than 5,000.

Al-Majid earned his nickname because of his willingness to use poison gas against the Kurds.

The 1988 killings remain a source of deep pain, particularly for Iraq's Kurds. Many in Halabja still suffer physically from the effects of the nerve and mustard gas that were unleashed on the village at the end of the eight-year, Iran-Iraq War.

The gas attack occurred in March 1988 when Iraqi jets sprayed a deadly mix of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX.