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Court to rule on Dutchman accused of
aiding genocide of Kurds
22.12.2005
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THE HAGUE, Dec 22
(AFP) - 2h33 - A Dutch court is set to rule Friday
in the case of a chemicals trader accused of aiding
genocide by selling ingredients for poison gas to
the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in the 1980s.
In the landmark ruling the Dutch judges will not
only have to establish the guilt or innocence of
businessman Frans van Anraat, but also determine
whether the 1988 massacre of Iraqi Kurds in Halabja
amounted to genocide.
The attack, which killed more than 5,000 people in a
single day, also features among the preliminary
charges against Saddam, who is currently on trial in
Baghdad.
Van Anraat is the first person to stand trial on
genocide charges for the Halabja attack. He is also
charged with war crimes for other Iraqi nerve gas
attacks on Kurdish villages in Iraq and in Iran.
Prosecutors have asked for a 15-year sentence.
"The mustard gas and nerve gas made with the help of
Van Anraat created tens of thousands of victims in
Iraq and Iran," prosecutor Fred Teeven said in his
closing argument.
In the 1980s the Dutchman acted as a sort of
middleman, buying chemicals on the world market and
selling them on to Iraq despite export bans then in
place.
The materials he supplied included thiodiglycol and
phosphorus oxychloride, both described as
ingredients for mustard and nerve gases.
Van Anraat, 63, has admitted to selling the chemical
components to Iraq, but maintains that he was not
aware of the use to which they were put. |
Frans Van Anraat
Photo: Internet
Former dictator Saddam Hussein
Photo : AFP |
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However, the prosecution presented several witnesses
and documents they said showed Van Anraat knew from
1984 onwards that the chemicals could be used to
make poison gas. They also said the Dutchman was the
sole supplier of thiodiglycol to Iraq from 1985 to
1988.
Van Anraat, a portly man with a shock of grey hair,
refused to answer most of the judges' questions. He
appeared seemingly unmoved as several victims of
poison gas attacks from Iran and Iraq testified
about what happened to them.
His illegal trade resulted in a first arrest in 1989
in Italy on a US request as part of an investigation
into his violating the export ban to Iraq, but he
subsequently managed to flee to Iraq.
There he lived for 14 years under a new name given
to him by the Iraqi regime, Faris Mansour Rasheed al
Bazzaz, meaning "the courageous and intelligent
fabric salesman".
He remained in Iraq until US-led forces invaded the
country in 2003, and then returned to the
Netherlands, Dutch officials said.
The businessman was finally arrested here in
December 2004 on charges of complicity in genocide
and war crimes.
Fifteen victims of Iraqi poison gas attacked have
joined the proceedings against Van Anraat and have
demanded damages for almost 700 eurosdollars) each,
the maximum possible under the applicable law.
The defence has called for the case to be dismissed
on the grounds that a trial against the alleged
principal perpetrators of the crimes, including
Saddam Hussein, is ongoing in Iraq.
Failing that, they have also argued that the
prosecution did not present sufficient evidence for
a conviction.
Even though the Dutch court will issue the first
legal ruling on whether Halabja amounted to
genocide, observers say it remains uncertain if this
might affect the Iraq tribunal trying Saddam and
others.
"I do not think it will have a lot of effect abroad
because it will mostly reflect Dutch law," explained
Heikelina Verrijn Stuart, a Dutch lawyer and
commentator who has followed the Van Anraat trial.
"The Iraq tribunal will have to take into account
international law as established by, for instance,
UN ad hoc tribunals, but not necessarily Dutch law."
AFP
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