Ali Hassan al–Mujid, nicknamed Chemical Ali for ordering gas attacks on the Kurds during the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war, was hanged on the 25th January 2010. Following a lengthy trial he was sentenced to death four times for genocide and crimes against humanity.
A paternal cousin of former President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Chemical Ali rose to power with fellow Ba’athist party members in the 1970s, becoming an aide to Iraqi Defence Minister, Hammadi Shihab.
When Hussein became President in 1979, Al-Mujid became one of his closest military advisors and head of the Mukhabarat – the Iraqi secret police and the Intelligence Service. Al-Mujid is quoted as saying to Hussein when denouncing traitors;
“What you have done in the past is good. What you will do in the future is good. But there is one small point. You have been too gentle, too merciful.”
In 1983, Al-Mujid directed a punishment operation in Dujail, north of Baghdad, in which hundreds of local men were executed, thousands deported and the town destroyed, following an assassination attempt on Hussein’s life.
He served as Secretary-General of the Northern Bureau of the Ba’ath Party between March 1987 and April 1989. In command of all state agencies in the predominantly Kurdish North of the country, he became known for his ruthlessness. His indiscriminate use of chemical weapons, such as mustard gas, sarin, tabun and VX, gave rise to the name Chemical Ali, of which he was known to have openly boasted about. Others however, called him the “Butcher of Kurdistan”.
The Anfal campaign, which took place during the Iran-Iraq War – an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kurdish population in Iraq – culminated in the notorious Halabja attacks in 1988, where over 5,000 people were killed. The brutal Halabja attacks was examined as part of his trial. Forces commanded by Al-Mujid embarked on a systematic campaign of death and destruction in his bid to crush the rebellious Kurdish population. A decree signed in 1987 stated;
“Within their jurisdiction, the armed forces must kill any human being or animal present in these areas”.
By 1988 some 1.5 million Kurds had been deported, 4,000 villages destroyed and 180,000 people killed. Following the end of the conflict, al-Mujid was appointed Minister of Local Government with control over all of the region. He oversaw the settlement of Arabs relocated from other areas of Iraq.
Following the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, he began a brutal campaign under which Kuwait was systematically looted, and purged of all “disloyal elements”. Al-Mujid was appointed Interior Minister of Iraq in March 1991. He oversaw the quelling of uprisings in the Shi’ite North and South of the country following the Iraqi defeat in the First Gulf War where once again many thousands were killed.
After falling from grace as Minister for Defence in 1995 for illegally smuggling grain, he was recalled in 1998 as commander of the southern region of Iraq. Immediately before the Second Iraq War, al-Mujid was recalled as Minister of Defence. Based in Basra, he was mistakenly reported to have died in a bomb attack in April 2003.
Captured by US forces on the 17th August 2003, he was the fifth most wanted man in Iraq, shown as the “King of Spades” on the notorious “most-wanted” Iraqi playing cards. His trial began on 21st August 2006 but difficulty arose when he refused to lodge an appeal.
Throughout the trial Al-Mujid remained unapologetic, stating that he ordered the destruction of villages because they were full of “Iranian agents”. He openly admitted at one hearing that he had given the order to demolish the villages and relocate the villagers. He stated;
“I am not defending myself. I am not apologising. I did not make a mistake.”
Evidence of a conversation between Al-Mujid and senior Ba’ath officials, which was recorded on tape, detailed his plans for chemical attacks lasting fifteen days. Villagers would be told to leave or they would be attacked viciously with chemical warfare. In subsequent tapes he promised not to leave anyone who spoke Kurdish alive. In his defence al-Mujid stated that all reference to “deport them” or “wipe them out” was for psychological effect rather than an actual physical threat.
He was found guilty in June 2007 but sentencing was postponed because the Iraqi president refused to sign the execution orders. In February 2008, al-Mujid’s execution was finally approved by the two Vice–Presidents and the Talabani. In December 2008, he was once again sentenced to death, this time for the role he played in the massacre of between 20,000 and 100,000 Shia Muslims, following the First Gulf War in 1991. Sentenced to death for the third time in March 2009 for the assassination of Grand–Ayatollah Mohammad al–Sadr in 1991, the Iraqi cabinet began to put more pressure on the Presidential Council for his execution to take place. On the 17th January 2010 al-Mujid was issued with a further death penalty for his acts of genocide against the Kurds between in the 1980s.
News of the execution was greeted with a mixed reaction among the Iraqi people. Any jubilation on the part of the people of Halabja is indicative of the deep-rooted hatred that
remains amongst the Iraqi people for the former regime. Old wounds remain raw. A BBC correspondent noted that the general reaction appears to be one of quiet relief amongst the Shia and Kurdish communities which suffered most at his hands. Families of those killed in Halabja expressed the opinion that they were pleased to hear that he had been executed.
News of the hanging broke shortly after three suicide bomb attacks in central Baghdad. It is, as yet, unclear whether the attacks are linked to his execution.
