Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of the closest aides to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and better known as "Chemical Ali", is to be tried first, Iraq's Defence Minister Hazim Shaalan said Wednesday.

The trial would start next week and definitely would take place by mid-January, Shaalan told reporters.

"In the next few days we will have the trial of Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of the close aides of Saddam Hussein," Shaalan said, adding that "he will be the first to be tried."

Shaalan said he did not expect the trial to be a long process as all evidence and witnesses were in place.

"We want to give them a chance that someone will come to defend them, Iraqi or foreign lawyers, as they want," Shaalan said.

Al-Majid is accused of gassing Kurdish village of Halabja in northern Iraq in the late 1980s.

Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Tuesday that trials against Saddam's deputies could begin as soon as next week.

Source: Xinhua