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Why was Iraqi official Ali Hassan al-Majid called Chemical Ali?

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American soldiers in World War I uniforms, some wearing gas masks, advance with rifles during a simulated gas attack exercise on a rocky battlefield. — chemical weapon American soldiers participating in a simulated gas attack exercise, World War I.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, earned the moniker "Chemical Ali" due to his orchestration of brutal chemical weapon attacks against Iraqi Kurds during the late 1980s.1

As the governor of northern Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, al-Majid directed the Anfal campaign between February and September 1988. This campaign involved systematic chemical attacks used as reprisals against Kurdish resistance. Most infamously, in March 1988, he conducted chemical strikes in and around the village of Halabjah, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 5,000 people, many of whom were civilians.12

The use of such indiscriminate and lethal weaponry against civilian populations is a profound violation of fundamental human rights and international ethical standards. Following the 2003 Iraq War, al-Majid was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity for his actions and was executed in 2010.1