The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Baghdad

The Iraqi government said on Thursday that the execution of Saddam Hussein's notorious hatchet man "Chemical Ali", which has been delayed for weeks due to Muslim holidays and legal hitches, will happen "in the coming days."

Asked in a rare appearance at the White House whether Ali Hassan al-Majid would be hanged soon for genocide, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters: "I think so, yes, in the coming days."

The Iraqi supreme court upheld Majid's death sentence on September 4 following his conviction for presiding over the mass killings of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s and ordered that he be executed within 30 days. But Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was reluctant to hang him until after the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which ended on Monday, because of the outcry that followed Saddam Hussein's execution during another Muslim holiday.