'Chemical Ali' given third death sentence

BAGHDAD, March 2 (UPI) -- Former Iraqi general Ali Hasan al-Majeed -- "Chemical Ali" -- Monday was given a third death sentence, this one for his role in putting down an uprising.

However, Tariq Aziz, a former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, was acquitted along with three other former members of the Hussein regime, CNN reported. Other former officials, whose names were not immediately available, were sentenced to life in prison, the U.S. news network said.

Al-Majeed, a cousin of executed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, was sentenced by an Iraqi court for his efforts to suppress a Shiite rebellion in Sadr City a decade ago, CNN reported. Previously, he had been given death sentences for using poison gas on Iraq's Kurdish population in 1988 -- which earned him his nickname --- and for playing a major role in the slaughter of thousands of Shiite Muslims during a revolt in southern Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Political considerations have delayed his execution, CNN said.