BAGHDAD, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi High Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced two of Saddam Hussein's half-brothers to death penalty for their role in the execution of dozens of Iraqi merchants.

    The two convicts were among eight co-accused in the trial of the 1992 murders of 42 Baghdad merchants who were executed for speculating of food prices when Iraq was under UN sanctions after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

    Chief Judge Raouf Rasheed Abdul-Rahman delivered the verdicts in his court for seven of the defendants, which were ranged from death penalty to six years in prison, while an eighth codefendant was found no guilty.

    Saddam's two half-brothers, former Security Service chief Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan and former Interior Minister Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan were sentenced to death, and the former Saddam Hussein's secretary Abed Hameed Humoud was sentenced to life imprisonment.

    Judge Rahman said that the court found Saddam's two half-brothers guilty of "premeditated murder and crimes against humanity."

"Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid, seen here in 2007. Iraq's top court has sentenced Aziz and Saddam Hussein's hatchet-man "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid to 15 years in jail for crimes against humanity. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    Tariq Aziz, 73, ex-deputy prime minister under Saddam's regime, Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, and Mizban Khedher Hadi, senior official of Saddam's Baath party, were sentenced to 15 years in prison.

    Ahmed Hussein Khudier, former minister of finance, was sentenced to six years in prison, while Esam Rasheed Hwaish, former Iraqi central bank governor, was found no guilty.

    On March 2, Tariq Aziz was found no guilty by the same Iraqi High Criminal Court for another case of killing and displacing Shiite Muslims in 1999, while his codefendant Ali Hassan al-Majid was sentenced to death in the same case.

    Both Aziz and Majid are also facing another trial in the court for their alleged role in the displacing and killing of thousands of clansmen of Kurdish Regional President Massud Barzani.

    Majid, who is also known "Chemical Ali" for his involvement in using poison gas against Kurds in 1980s, has been sentenced to death in two more cases previously.

    One of the cases was in June 2007 for genocide after ordering killing of tens of thousands of Kurds during the Operation Anfal campaign in 1988, when Iraqi forces hit Kurdish villages with poison gas.

    The other death penalty for him was for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over a crackdown on Shiites during their uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.

Iraqi court sentences former deputy premier, Tariq Aziz 15 years in prison

Tareq Aziz, former Iraqi deputy prime minister during the Saddam Hussein regime, in Baghdad, 2004. Iraq's top court has sentenced Aziz and Saddam Hussein's hatchet-man "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid to 15 years in jail for crimes against humanity. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BAGHDAD, March 11 (Xinhua) -- An Iraqi court sentenced Wednesday Saddam Hussein's deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz to 15 years in jail for crimes against humanity over the killing of dozens of Iraqi merchants in 1992.