The long-awaited execution of “Chemical Ali”, a cousin of Saddam Hussein, has been approved after months of delay, bringing relief and a sense of closure to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds who lost family and friends under the former regime.

Iraq’s Presidential Council, comprising Jalal Talabani, the President, and his two deputies, endorsed the execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid two days ago, officials said today. He could go to the gallows at any time.

Majid was one of three former Saddam officials sentenced to death in June after being convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their part in the so-called Anfal campaign that left an estimated 182,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas dead.

News of the decision brought wide smiles to the faces of people who survived the brutal scenes some 20 years ago, though some still shed tears for the loved ones who perished.

Narmin Mirza said that she lost 75 relatives all from the same village of Gomashin, in the Kurdish north of Iraq, after it was targeted with chemical weapons. “I am very, very happy for this news. I wish that Chemical Ali is executed seven times, not just once for all the criminal acts he did to me and my family,” she said.

“In my village alone, more that 250 people were taken away and until now we do not know anything about them,” Ms Mirza told The Times.

She managed to escape, wearing just the clothes on her back. “I lost everything, my house, my cattle, my agricultural land, all, all my possessions.”

Khazal Ahmed, another of Majid’s alleged victims, said that she would hand out sweets to children in her neighbourhood on the day that he actually dies. “I am very happy. We have seen a lot of poverty and deprivation because of this bad man,” said Ms Ahmed, who lost eight members of her family during the Anfal campaign.

“I live a lonely life now,” she said, tears brimming in her eyes as she recalled the day when three helicopters dropped chemical bombs on her village near to the northern city of Kirkuk.

While agreeing to Majid’s hanging, the Presidential Council did not approve the death sentences against the other two defendants – Sultan Hashim al-Tai, Saddam’s defence minister, and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, his armed forces deputy chief of operations. No decision has yet been made regarding their fate.

The outcome, which ends months of uncertainty over the men’s fate, could represent a compromise to ease Sunni objections to executing Tai, widely viewed as a respected career soldier who was simply forced to follow the orders of Saddam.

The US military, which still has custody of all three men, said it had not received a request to hand Majid over to the Iraqi authorities, which would signal that his death was imminent.

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