Iraq's "Chemical Ali" to hang within days: officials

By Ahmed Rasheed and Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - "Chemical Ali", Saddam Hussein's cousin convicted for his role in killing up to 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s, will hang within days after Iraq's presidency council approved his execution, officials said on Friday.

The council, made up of President Jalal Talabani and Iraq's two vice-presidents, gave the green light for Ali Hassan al-Majeed to be hanged.

He was convicted of directing the Anfal military campaign against ethnic Kurds in 1988 and acquired his nickname because of the poison gas used to kill many of them.

Along with Saddam's former defense minister, Sultan Hashem, and a former army commander, Hussein Rashid Muhammed, Majeed was sentenced to death last June, but legal wrangling held up his execution.

His hanging has long been sought by Kurds.

"They approved it two days ago," a source at the presidency council told Reuters, without explaining why the decision had been kept secret.

Majeed's reputation for ruthless use of force to crush opponents won him widespread notoriety during Saddam's rule and led many Iraqis to fear him more than the Iraqi leader himself.

Asked when Majeed would be hanged, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said: "It will be a matter of days."

The two officials said it would be up to Maliki's government to set a date for the execution.

The U.S. military, which has custody of Majeed and other former members of Saddam's government, said it had not received a request to hand him over to the Iraqi authorities, which would signal that his execution was imminent.

Saddam and three members of his government have already been executed.

Saddam's execution in December 2006 sparked anger among Sunni Arabs, who were outraged by a video showing the ousted leader being hanged to sectarian taunts from official observers.

His half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was executed two weeks later in a botched hanging in which he was decapitated.

AT ODDS WITH MALIKI

Majeed's death sentence last June was widely cheered by Iraqis, but Talabani and Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, opposed the execution of his co-accused, arguing military men should not suffer such a punishment for following orders from their political masters.