An Iraqi prosecutor says Saddam Hussein's cousin and four other former officials in the ousted regime deserve the death penalty for mass killings of Kurds.
The prosecutor sought the death penalty Monday at the trial in Baghdad against Ali Hassan al-Majid and the other four officials. Al-Majid is known as "Chemical Ali" for allegedly ordering poison gas attacks against the Kurds.
The prosecutor asked that a sixth defendant, former governor of Mosul Taher al-Ani, be released for lack of evidence.
The former officials are on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity for the so-called Anfal campaign in the 1980s, in which 180,000 Iraqi Kurds died.
The defendants claim the campaign was against legitimate military targets - Kurdish guerrillas who had sided with Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
