'Chemical Ali', a top deputy of former dictator Saddam Hossein, has denied opening fire on civilians during the Shia uprising in 1991.

Ali Hassan Al-Majid, who ordered the use of poison gas to kill Kurdish villagers in the 1980s, has been sentenced to death after the ouster of Saddam's regime on the charges of genocide.

'Chemical Ali' is among 15 Saddam-era officials on trial for the 1991 crackdown that led to killing of tens of thousands of Shia Iraqis.

He, however, rejected witness accounts that he and Iraqi soldiers opened fire on nonviolent protesters in the southern city of Basra following Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, AP reported.

Al-Majid was convicted on 24 June 2007 of genocide and sentenced to death by hanging. His execution was finally approved by Iraq's presidency in February 2008, after a delay of several months.

His execution, however, has been delayed for months in a complex legal and political battle in the war-ravaged country.

MD/HAR