An Iraqi appeals court has upheld a decision by the High Court to hang Saddam Hussein's former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan.
Ramadan was sentenced in November to life in jail for his role in the killing of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail in the 1980s for which Saddam and two former aides have already been hanged.
"After checking the case, the appeal court found that the hardening of the life sentence to death sentence by the Iraqi High Court was in accordance with the law so the appeal court has decided to uphold the death sentence against the criminal Taha Yassin Ramadan," Judge Munir Haddad said.
The judge told reporters the decision was final and that the sentence could be "carried out at any moment." He said that under Iraqi law the hanging must take place within 30 days.
The trial court in November found Ramadan guilty of issuing orders for the systematic detention, torture and killing of men, women and children from Dujail following an attempt on Saddam's life there in 1982.
United Nations human rights chief Louise Arbour, who appealed unsuccessfully to Iraq to stop the executions of Saddam and his aides, has urged Baghdad to spare Ramadan's life, saying a death sentence would break international law.
Saddam's execution in December sparked anger among fellow Sunni Arabs, who were outraged by a video showing the ousted leader being hanged to sectarian taunts from official observers.
His half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was executed two weeks later in a botched hanging in which he was decapitated.