Ali Hassan al-Majid
Iraqi Defense Minister
Died when: 68 years 56 days (817 months)Star Sign: Sagittarius
Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti (Arabic: علي حسن عبد المجيد التكريت, romanized: ʿAlī Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Majīd al-Tikrītī; 30 November 1941 – 25 January 2010), nicknamed Chemical Ali (Arabic: علي الكيمياوي, romanized: ʿAlī al-Kīmīawī), was an Iraqi politician and military commander under Saddam Hussein who served as defence minister, interior minister, and chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.
He was also the governor of Kuwait during much of the 1990–91 Gulf War.A first cousin of former Ba'athist Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, he became notorious in the 1980s and 1990s for his alleged role in the Iraqi government's campaigns against internal opposition forces, namely the ethnic Kurdish rebels of the north, and the Shia rebels of the south.
Repressive measures included deportations and mass killings; al-Majid was dubbed "Chemical Ali" (علي الكيماوي, Ali Al-Kīmāwī) by Iraqis for his use of chemical weapons in attacks against the Kurds.
Al-Majid was captured following the 2003 invasion of Iraq and was charged by the Iraqi government with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
He was convicted in June 2007 and was sentenced to death for crimes of genocide against the Kurds committed in the al-Anfal campaign of the 1980s.
His appeal of the death sentence was rejected on 4 September 2007, and he was sentenced to death for the fourth time on 17 January 2010 and was hanged eight days later, on 25 January 2010.