Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin "Chemical Ali" has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and given a death sentence for his involvement in a poison gas attack.

Families of victims in court cheered when the judge handed down the guilty verdict against Ali Hassan al-Majid in a trial for one of the worst poisonous gas attacks against civilians.

He has already received three previous death sentences for atrocities committed during Saddam's rule, particularly in the government's campaigns against the Shiites and Kurds in the 1980s and 1990s.