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Dutchman accused over Iraq genocide 'knew
possible fatal use of chemicals'
3.12.2005
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THE HAGUE, Dec 2
(AFP) - 15h46 - A Japanese partner of Dutch
chemicals trader Frans van Anraat testified Friday
at his trial on charges of genocide and war crimes
for supplying chemicals used by Saddam Hussein in
poison gas attacks that Van Anraat knew the
ingredients could be used to make nerve gas.
Van Anraat has admitted to selling the chemical
components thiodiglycol and phosphorus oxychloride,
both key ingredients in mustard gas, to Iraq but
maintains that he was not aware of the use to which
they were put.
In the 1980s Van Anraat acted as a sort of middle
man, buying chemicals on the world market and
selling them on to Iraq despite export bans in
place.
Hisjiro "Charlie" Tanaka, a former business partner
of Van Anraat who helped him get the chemicals from
Japanese and US manufacturers between 1984 and 1988,
told a Dutch court Friday that Van Anraat was told
the ingredients he was buying could be used to make
poison gas in the mid-eighties.
"All the manufacturers, where we bought the
thiodiglycol, told us that it could be made into
poison gas," Tanaka said.
The testimony could be vital to the case in showing
that Van Anraat knew the ingredients he was sending
to Iraq had a potentially fatal use.
Van Anraat told investigators that he thought the
chemicals would be used in the textile and leather
industry. However, experts testified during the
trial that this use would not justify the thousands
of tonnes he shipped to Iraq over the years. |
Frans Van Anraat
Photo: Internet
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP |
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Van Anraat, 63, is the first person to appear in
court on genocide charges in connection with the
1988 poison gas attacks on the Kurdish town of
Halabja in northern Iraq.
The massacre, which killed more than 5,000 people in
a single day, also features among the preliminary
charges against former Iraqi leader Saddam,
currently on trial in Baghdad.
In addition Van Anraat is charged with aiding war
crimes for alleged Iraqi chemical attacks on Kurdish
towns in Iran.
AFP
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