国际英语新闻：Iraq's Chemical Ali executed

BAGHDAD, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's Saddam Hussein's close aide "Chemical Ali" has been executed in Baghdad, the Iraqi official television reported Monday.

"Ali Hassan al-Majeed has been executed today," the channel quoted Ali al-Dabbagh, the government spokesman, as saying.

Dabbagh refused to give further details about the time of the execution of the convict.

Saddam Hussein's notorious henchman "Chemical Ali", seen here in 2007, has been executed, Iraq's government said, eight days after he was sentenced to death for the 1998 gassing of thousands of Kurds

On Jan. 17, the former Saddam Hussein top aide received his fourth death penalty for his role in chemical attacks against Kurds in the village of Halabja.

Halabja, a Kurdish village, suffered the most brutal crackdown against Iraq's ethnic Kurds during the so-called Anfal campaign carried out by Saddam's regime in the 1980s. In March 1988, at least 5,000 people were believed to be killed in conventional and chemical bombings and attacks ordered by Saddam's authorities.

Saddam Hussein's notorious henchman "Chemical Ali", seen here in 2007, has been executed, Iraq's government said, eight days after he was sentenced to death for the 1998 gassing of thousands of Kurds

Al-Majeed had been sentenced to death for his role in Anfal campaign against Kurds who revolted in northern Iraq during the war with Iraq in 1980s.

In 2008, Chemical Ali was once again sentenced to death for his crimes against Shiite community during their uprising in southern Iraq that followed the 1991 Gulf War.

In 2009, al-Majeed was sentenced to death for the third time for the assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad al-Sadr in 1999.