Maliki Wants 'Chemical Ali' Turned Over

Maliki Wants 'Chemical Ali' Turned Over
Associated Press | November 30, 2007

BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister has appealed to President Bush to hand over Saddam Hussein's cousin, known as "Chemical Ali," and two other former regime officials sentenced to hang for a 1980s crackdown against Kurds, two government officials said.

The formal request Nov. 29 from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki threatened to strain relations with U.S. officials - who have refused to surrender the men - and incite a backlash from Sunni Arabs as sectarian violence is ebbing.

Sunni leaders have led a campaign to spare the life of one of the condemned men, former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie, who is widely viewed by Sunnis as a respected career soldier who was forced to follow Saddam's orders in the 1986-88 purges against Kurds.

Although there is little outcry for leniency against the others - including Ali Hassan al-Majid, nicknamed "Chemical Ali" for ordering poison gas attacks - the U.S. military has refused to relinquish control of all three. The third is Hussein Rashid Mohammed, an ex-deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces.

They were convicted in June of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their part in the Operation Anfal crackdown that killed nearly 200,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas. An appeals court upheld the verdict in September. Under Iraqi law the executions were to have taken place within a month.

Now, their execution date is indefinitely on hold in response to a struggle between al-Maliki and the Sunni vice president over whether to commute the death sentence for al-Taie.


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