Two other defendants were also ordered to face the gallows over the brutal campaign of bombings, mass deportation and gas attacks known as Anfal in which an estimated 182,000 Kurds were killed and 4,000 villages wiped out.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of the executed former dictator known as Chemical Ali for orchestrating the gassing of the Kurds, was sentenced to "hanging until death" for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

"Thousands of people were killed, displaced and disappeared," the Iraqi High Tribunal chief judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah said at a post-trial press conference. "They were civilians with no weapons and nothing to do with war."

Majid, 66, was the last of the six defendants to learn his fate in the Anfal case -- the second trial of former Saddam cohorts on charges of crimes against humanity since the fall of the feared regime in 2003.

He muttered only "Thanks be to God" before being led from the court.

The Amman-based defence team vowed to appeal, describing the verdicts issued after the 10-month trial as "unjust and political".

The court has 10 days to forward all relevant documents to a nine-judge appeal panel that automatically reviews all life or death sentences.

If upheld, the sentences will have to be carried out within 30 days of the decision but there is no time limit for the panel to certify the verdicts.

"You gave orders to troops to kill Kurdish civilians and put them in severe conditions. You subjected them to wide and systematic attacks using chemical weapons and artillery," Khalifah told Majid. "You committed genocide."

Sultan Hashim al-Tai, a defence minister who headed "Task Force Anfal" and reported directly to Chemical Ali, was sentenced to death on the same charges but declared his innocence as he was led from court.

Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, ex-armed forces deputy chief of operations, was also sentenced to death for orchestrating a large-scale attack against the Kurds and taking part in ordering chemical gas strikes against civilians.

Farhan al-Juburi, a former military intelligence commander, was sentenced to life in prison for murder, genocide and crimes against humanity by providing intelligence to Majid.

He received an additional 10 years for his role in the deportation of Kurdish civilians.

Sabir al-Duri, a former military intelligence chief, received a life term on the same charges and for providing Saddam with studies on how to use chemical arms to maximum effect.

All charges were dropped against Taher al-Ani, former governor of the northern city of Mosul, because of a lack of evidence.

Mahmud Othman, a Kurdish MP and doctor who treated people in the countryside during the campaign, said the trial was incomplete because it ignored the foreign governments and companies that supplied Saddam with his weapons.

"Those who helped Saddam make chemical weapons are responsible for what happened and so they should pay compensation to those families."

Saddam's regime defended the Anfal (spoils) scorched earth campaign as a necessary counter-insurgency operation during Iraq's eight-year war with neighbouring Iran.

It involved the systematic bombardment, gassing and assault of areas in the Kurdish autonomous region, which witnessed mass executions and deportations and the creation of prison camps.

Saddam, driven from power by a US-led invasion in April 2003, was executed on December 30 for crimes against humanity in a separate case and charges against him over the Anfal campaign were dropped.

Over the course of the trial, which opened on August 21, a defiant Majid said he was right to order the attacks.

"I am the one who gave orders to the army to demolish villages and relocate the villagers," he said at one hearing. "I am not defending myself. I am not apologising. I did not make a mistake."

Since Saddam's execution, Majid emerged as the star defendant and took the front seat in the dock previously occupied by the former dictator.

Iraqi Kurds were jubilant following the verdicts.

"Today I was born again after I witnessed the defendant Chemical Ali in the cage, terrified as he heard the sentence," said Fatima Rasul, 45, who lost her father and 20 other relatives in the brutal 1988 campaign.

"I demand that Ali be transported to Halabja or any Kurdish town to be hanged," Rasul said, referring to the village where Majid's forces killed 5,000 Kurds in 1988.

The bombing, considered the worst gas attack ever committed against civilians, was not part of the Anfal trial.

Khalifah said the court considered the testimony of many experts, especially regarding mass graves uncovered in the region where the attacks were carried out.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern on Friday that the Anfal verdicts could be "flawed" as in the previous trial of Saddam over the killing of Shiites from the village of Dujail in the 1980s.

Khalifah said the court had done its best.

"We have tried hard to give all facilities to defendants. This tribunal is purely Iraqi, but we still try to adopt international practices," he said.

"We were never hasty in delivering the verdict. Our court was ready today to issue its verdict."