LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – Will Chemical Ali, the cousin of Saddam Hussein, hang on Sunday?
Reports conflict about when the death penalty handed out to Chemical Ali, true name Ali Hassan al Maheed, 66, will die.
Several media reports said on Friday that the U.S. military was about to hand over Majeed to the Iraqi authorities so that they could hang him.
However, Reuters report that the rumours are incorrect.
“We control Chemical Ali. He has not been moved,” said U.S. Navy Captain John Fleming, spokesman for U.S. detention operations in Iraq.
“We know of no plans for the near term for the execution of that sentence,” he said, referring to the appeal court decision.
An Iraqi appeals court on Tuesday upheld Ali Hassan al-Majeed’s death sentence for planning and directing a military campaign in 1988 that prosecutors said killed up to 180,000 Kurds. However, Chemical Ali’s death sentence means he must be executed within 30 days of the Tuesday court decision.
