By Ahmed Rasheed and Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - "Chemical Ali", Saddam Hussein's cousinand once one of the most feared men in Iraq, will hang withindays after the last legal obstacle holding up his execution wasremoved, Iraqi officials said on Friday.
The presidency council, made up of President Jalal Talabaniand the two vice-presidents, has given the green light for AliHassan al-Majeed to be hanged.
"They approved it two days ago," a source at the presidencycouncil told Reuters, without explaining why the decision hadbeen kept secret.
Majeed's reputation for ruthless use of force to crushopponents won him widespread notoriety during Saddam's rule andled many Iraqis to fear him more than the Iraqi leader himself.
Asked when Majeed would be hanged, an adviser to PrimeMinister Nuri al-Maliki said: "It will be a matter of days."
The two officials said it would be up to Maliki'sgovernment to set a date for the execution.
The U.S. military, which has custody of Majeed and otherformer members of Saddam's government, said it had not receiveda request to hand him over to the Iraqi authorities, whichwould signal that his execution was imminent.
Majeed, Saddam's former defence minister, Sultan Hashem,and a former army commander, Hussein Rashid Muhammed, weresentenced to death last June for a genocidal campaign againstIraq's Kurds in the 1980s that killed tens of thousands ofpeople.
Saddam and three members of his government have beenexecuted.
Saddam's execution in December 2006 sparked anger amongSunni Arabs, who were outraged by a video showing the oustedleader being hanged to sectarian taunts from officialobservers.
His half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was executed twoweeks later in a botched hanging in which he was decapitated.
AT ODDS WITH MALIKI
Majeed's death sentence last June was widely cheered byIraqis, but Talabani and Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, aSunni Arab, opposed the execution of his co-accused, arguingmilitary men should not suffer such a punishment for followingorders from their political masters.
That put them at odds with Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist whosefellow Shi'ites suffered terribly under Saddam's minority SunniArab rule. He wanted the executions to be swiftly carried out.
Government officials argued the presidency council'sapproval was not even required, but U.S. forces refused to handover the prisoners until the dispute was resolved.
"Our position remains that we will comply with a request totransfer custody once the government of Iraq has arrived at aconsensus as to the legal process that must be followed withregard to these executions, and then follows that process,"White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroesaid on Friday.
"We have not yet received a government of Iraq request inthis regard," Johndroe said.
The legal wrangle has held up the execution of the three,who were due to have gone to the gallows within days of anIraqi appeals court upholding their death sentences lastSeptember.
But a compromise solution now appears to have been workedout to go ahead with the execution of Majeed while the disputeover his two co-accused is left to another day to be settled.
Majeed was convicted of directing the Anfal militarycampaign in 1988 which prosecutors said killed up to 180,000Kurds. His hanging has long been sought by Kurds.
"Today, there are no words to describe my pleasure. All Ican do is feel this happiness inside because I have no one toshare it with," said Nuri Abdul-Rahman, 65, who lost five ofhis sons and a grandson during the Anfal campaign.
(Additional reporting by Shamal Aqrawi; Writing by RossColvin; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
