Saddam Hussein's former aide "Chemical Ali" is due to be hung within days after the last legal obstacle to his execution was cleared today.
Ali Hassan al-Majeed, Saddam's cousin, was once one of the most feared men in Iraq and is held responsible for the use of chemical gas on Iraqi Kurds as part of a campaign to break their resistance to Saddam's regime.
An estimated 180,000 were killed by the ethnic cleansing ordered by Majeed, and around 1.5 million were deported. Tens of thousands of Shia muslims were also killed under his orders.
He was appointed military governor of Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion in 1990.
The presidency council - made up of President Jalal Talabani and the two vice-presidents - approved his hanging two days ago, a source said today.
An adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Majeed would be hung "in a matter of days."
The US military, which has custody of Majeed and other former members of Saddam's government, said it had not received a request to hand him over to the Iraqi authorities.
Saddam's former defence minister, Sultan Hashem, and a former army commander, Hussein Rashid Muhammed, were sentenced to death along with Majeed last June for their role in the genocidal campaign against the separatist Kurds.
Saddam and three members of his government have been executed since the US-led invasion ousted him in 2003.