Chemical Ali denies 1991 shootings

BAGHDAD, June 16 (UPI) -- Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," denied at a war crimes tribunal in Baghdad shooting unarmed protesters during a 1991 Shiite uprising in Basra.

Majid faced the Iraqi High Tribunal in 2007 for alleged atrocities committed in response to a Shiite rebellion following the U.S.-led liberation of Kuwait in 1991.

The rebellion was successful in seizing control of several cities and brought rebels within 60 miles of the capital, Baghdad. U.S. President George H.W. Bush encouraged Iraqis to "take matters into their own hands" and "force Saddam Hussein to step aside" following the Iraqi defeat in the first Gulf War.

Majid rejected accounts provided by eyewitnesses saying he and Iraqi soldiers fired on peaceful demonstrators, the Iranian Press TV reported Monday.

The High Tribunal convicted Majid in June 2004 of genocide related to a rebellion in Iraqi Kurdistan. He was sentenced to death in February and reportedly suffered a heart attack in April.

Majid served as the Iraqi defense minister in the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein. He is currently standing trial with former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz for the execution of 42 businessmen in 1992 who protested high food costs resulting from U.N. sanctions on Saddam's regime.