Ali Hassan al-Majid, the Saddam Hussein henchman better known as Chemical Ali who is on death row in Iraq for genocide, was discharged this week from hospital after treatment for a heart attack, lawyer Badie Aref said Wednesday.

"Majid left the hospital on Tuesday and he is in a stable condition after suffering a heart attack as a result of a three-day hunger strike," Aref told AFP in Amman.

The Iraqi lawyer, who also represents another leading figure in Saddam's regime, deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, told AFP that Majid was hospitalised on Saturday after his health deteriorated because of the hunger strike.

"He has been sent to a US detention facility at Camp Cropper near Baghdad airport, but still under medical supervision because he already has high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems," Aref said on Wednesday.

Majid was sentenced to death for genocide last June, along with former defence minister Sultan Hashim al-Tai and former armed forces deputy chief of operations Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti.

The three were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing a brutal military campaign against Kurdish civilians in 1988 known as Anfal, or Spoils, that left 180 000 people dead.

Their executions have been delayed by legal wranglings.

AFP