BAGHDAD - An Iraqi prosecutor on Monday sought the death penalty for Saddam Hussein's cousin and four other former regime officials accused of crimes against humanity during a 1980s crackdown on Kurds, saying the five "did not have mercy" when they gave their orders.

The prosecutor, Munqith al-Faroon, suggested a sixth defendant be released for lack of evidence.

Those being tried in the so-called Anfal trial include Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali" for allegedly ordering poison gas attacks against the Kurds.

Al-Majid, Saddam's cousin and the former head of the Baath Party's Northern Bureau Command, has acknowledged in court that he gave orders to destroy scores of villages during the Anfal campaign, saying the area "was full of Iranian agents."

If convicted, the defendants could be sentenced to death by hanging.

In his closing remarks, al-Faroon asked the court to convict and give the harshest penalty to al-Majid and four co-defendants because they "did not have mercy on elderly people or women or children - not even animals or plants or the environment."

But, he said, Taher Tawfiq al-Ani, the former governor of Mosul and head of the Northern Affairs Committee, should be released because the evidence against him was insufficient.

The prosecutor noted that the defendants had not apologized.

"We expected them to offer apologies not only for their victims but also for the international community," he said. "The court noticed that they are so proud of these crimes, which they justify and defend."

He said al-Majid "was the ultimate master of the genocide operations against the Kurds" but said the other defendants also bore responsibility for a "plan that was implemented in stages to eliminate the Kurdish race from the north of Iraq."

The defense, meanwhile, read a letter from defense attorney Badie Arif Ezzat, who was ejected from the court for contempt last month, complaining that he is still in custody in the heavily fortified Green Zone but no interrogation has taken place.

Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa ordered the microphones turned off at that point so the exchange that followed could not be monitored by the media.

The trial was adjourned until April 16, when the defense was to make its closing remarks.

The six defendants faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from their roles in a military crackdown on Iraq's Kurdish population in 1987-88. The prosecution says 180,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

The others include former director of military intelligence Sabir al-Douri; Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai, a former defense minister and head of the Iraqi Army 1st Corps during the Anfal campaign; Hussein Rashid Mohammed, former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces; and Farhan Mutlaq Saleh, former head of military intelligence's eastern regional office.

Saddam was a defendant in the case but was sentenced to death and hanged on Dec. 30 after his conviction for the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in Dujail after a 1982 attempt on his life.