Ali “Chemical Ali,” Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of Saddam Hussein’s closest aides, has been sentenced to death for the Halabija massacre. Five thousand Kurds lost their lives in a matter of minutes, suffocated by a deadly cocktail of tabun, sarin, and VX. The attack on the Kurdish village is considered the worst chemical attack against civilians in history. “Chemical Ali,” cousin of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, has already been sentenced to death for the repression of the Kurdish rebellion, the Anfal campaign of 1987-1988, which killed nearly 180,000 people, and the suppression of a Shiite insurrection in 1991.
