Ali Hassan al-Majid, a first cousin to Saddam Hussein and one of the former dictator’s most trusted henchman, has been sentenced to die for a fourth time. He was sentenced 17 January for his role in the 1988 gas attack on a Kurdish village which killed about 5,000 people. He is currently being held in a US detention centre, but will be handed over to Iraqi authorities within days. The death sentence is expected to be carried out days later.

He was sentenced previously for a campaign by Saddam Hussein against the Kurds, and for putting down a Shiite rebellion in 1991 following the first Gulf War, as well as the displacement and killing of Shiites in 1999.

Other links: The Guardian, New York Times

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