[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 22



IRAQ:

Hussein Henchman Has Heart Attack


Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, who is known as Chemical Ali,
has been taken to an American military hospital after suffering a heart
attack while in custody awaiting execution, officials said. Maj. Brad
Leighton, an American military spokesman in Baghdad, confirmed that Mr.
Majid was in a hospital after "falling ill," saying only that he was "in a
stable condition."

He was admitted on Sunday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his condition.

Mr. Majid was among 3 of Mr. Hussein's lieutenants who were sentenced to
death by an Iraqi court last June after they were found guilty of using
poisonous gas against Kurds in northern Iraq in the 1980s.

However, their executions have been delayed because of a disagreement
between Iraq's Shiite-led government and its Presidency Council about
whether the death penalty should be carried out. In the meantime they
remain in American custody.

(source: New York Times)