The protestors, men, women and children, staged the demonstration at Rizgary, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of the major Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.

They demanded that Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of poisonous gas against Kurds; Sultan Hashim al-Tai, Saddam's defence minister; and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, his armed forces deputy chief of operations, be hanged without delay.

The three were sentenced to death on June 24 for the killing of thousands of ethnic Kurds in the so-called Anfal (Spoils) campaign of 1988.

Waving Kurdish flags, the demonstrators, most of them related to victims of the slaughter, demanded "justice" for their missing loved ones.

They expressed anger at talk of possible clemency for one of the men, Sultan Hashim, and denounced what they said was "political interference" in the justice system.

Under Iraqi law, the three men were supposed to have been executed by October 4, 30 days after their sentences were upheld by the Iraq Supreme Court.

But because two members of the presidential council -- President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni -- have refused to sign the execution orders, the sentences have yet to be carried out.

The United States, which is holding Majid and the two other convicts, has said it will not hand them over for execution until the legal row is settled.

Talabani, who is opposed on principle to the death penalty, has repeatedly come out in defence of Sultan Hashim, while Hashemi fears that his execution could undermine already stuttering reconciliation efforts in post-Saddam Iraq.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters at the weekend that the issue was in the hands of the High Court, whose decision would be binding.

The court, he said, had to decide whether the approval of the presidential council is needed, and if so, what is the legal situation if this is not granted.

Other protests will be held in the autonomous Kurdish region in the coming days, culminating in a major demonstration in the provincial capital Arbil, said one of the organisers Pishro Rashid, without giving a date.