Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin, known as Chemical Ali, listens as a special Iraqi court on Tuesday sentenced him to death for crimes against humanity. (APTN/Asssociated Press)

An Iraqi special court on Tuesday sentenced Saddam Hussein's cousin, Ali (Chemical Ali) Hassan al-Majid, to death for crushing a 1991 Shia uprising in southern Iraq.

He already faces an earlier death sentence for his role in killing of tens of thousands of Kurds in a crackdown in the late 1980s. That sentencing, handed out in June 2007, has been delayed by legal arguments.

Al-Majid got his nickname after reportedly ordering the gassing of 5,000 people in a Kurdish village in March 1988.

Also Tuesday, Judge Mohammad al-Uraibi sentenced former top Baath party official Abdul-Ghani Abdul-Ghafour to death for his involvement in the 1991 incident.

As he was sentenced, Abdul-Ghafour shouted, "Down with the Persian-U.S. occupation!"

The judge replied: "Shut up, you dirty Baathist," referring to Saddam's former ruling party.

The trial was one of five convened against former leaders of Saddam's regime, which was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Two are still ongoing.

In the first trial, Saddam was convicted of crimes in the killing of more than 140 Shias after an assassination attempt against him in Dujail. He was hanged in December 2006.

Al-Majid was convicted of crimes against humanity for his involvement in the 1991 uprising, which occurred after Saddam's first Gulf War defeat. Shias in the south and Kurds in the north rose up against his Baathist regime, taking control of 14 of the country's 18 provinces.

American troops sheltered the Kurds in the north, but Iraqi troops entered the southern regions and killed tens of thousands of people. Investigators later discovered dozens of mass graves containing thousands of decayed bodies.

With files from the Associated Press