JURIST - Paper Chase: 'Chemical Ali' hospitalized in Iraq following hunger strike

[JURIST] Ali Hassan al-Majid [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], better known in the Western media as "Chemical Ali," was admitted to a US medical facility in Iraq on Sunday, the US military said Monday. Al-Majid had reportedly been on a hunger strike since Friday, but is now in stable condition after passing out Sunday. One of al-Majid's co-defendants has also been hospitalized in connection with the hunger strike. AP has more.

The Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced [JURIST report] al-Majid and his co-defendants to death in June 2007 on genocide and war crimes charges for their roles in the deaths of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Anfal campaign [HRW backgrounder] of 1988. Iraq's Presidency Council, consisting of Kurdish President Jalal Talibani, Shi'ite Vice-President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi, approved al-Majid's execution [JURIST report] on February 29. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government said in early March that al-Majid would not be executed [JURIST report] until the Presidency Council approved the death sentences of al-Majid's two co-defendants.

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