BAGHDAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's top aide known as "Chemical Ali" has been sentenced to death for his role in chemical attacks against Kurds in the village of Halabja, official state television reported Sunday.

    The Iraqi Higher Criminal Court sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majeed,Saddam Hussein's cousin, to death by hanging after having been found guilty of deadly attacks against Kurdish minority in Halabjain northeast of Iraq in 1988 during the war with Iran, the Iraqia state-run channel said.

    The court also sentenced other codefendants to prisons for years ranging from 10 to 15 years, the channel said.

    Halabja, a Kurdish village, suffered the most brutal crackdown against Iraq's ethnic Kurds during the so-called Anfal campaign carried out by Saddam's regime in the 1980s.

    In March 1988, at least 5,000 people were believed to be killedin conventional and chemical bombings and attacks ordered by Saddam's authorities.

    It was the fourth death penalty that al-Majeed received after being sent to death for his role in Anfal campaign against Kurds who revolted in northern Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war in 1980s.

    In 2008, Chemical Ali was once again sentenced to death for his crimes against Shiite community during their uprising in southern Iraq that followed the 1991 Gulf War.

    In 2009, al-Majeed was sentenced to death for the third time for the assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad al-Sadr in 1999.Enditem