A former Iraqi official Ali Hassan al-Majid also known as Chemical Ali, has been sentenced to death for ordering the gassing of Kurds. It is the fourth time that Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein's regime, has been sentenced to death. He has also been convicted of the 1999 killings of Shia Muslims in Baghdad and for a campaign of genocide against the Kurds. His latest sentence is for a gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. It is believed that 5,000 people were killed in the attack, most of them women and children.<br/><br/>Majid was a cousin of Saddam Hussein, who earned his nickname after his use of poison gas. The Iraqi High Tribunal also sentenced former defence minister Sultan Hashem to 15 years in prison for the attack. He has already been sentenced to death on three other counts.