Iraq's parliament reconvened Tuesday after a monthlong summer break but took up none of the key benchmark legislation demanded by Washington, according to AP. Meanwhile, an Iraqi appeals court upheld death sentences imposed against «Chemical Ali» al-Majid and two other Saddam Hussein lieutenants convicted of crimes against humanity for their roles in a massacre of Kurds, a judge said. Al-Majid, Saddam's cousin and former defense minister, gained the nickname «Chemical Ali» after poison gas attacks on Kurdish towns in the 1980s. The Iraqi High Tribunal upheld his death sentence in a majority decision, as well as those of former defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, a former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces, appellate court judge Munir Hadad told The Associated Press. Under Iraqi law they must now be executed within the next 30 days.
