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Dutchman on trial for complicity in genocide

Anraat accused of shipping deadly chemicals to Iraq

THE HAGUE (Netherlands): A Dutch court on Monday denied a request for dismissal by a Dutchman accused of supplying the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein with chemicals, as his trial opened on charges of complicity in genocide for the deaths of thousands of people in Iran and among Iraq's own Kurds in the 1980s.

Frans van Anraat (63), allegedly shipped more than 1,100 tonnes of chemicals to Iraq from 1986 to 1988 that were used to manufacture deadly mustard and nerve gas.

Thousands killed

Prosecutors charged that Mr. Van Anraat not only knew the chemicals would be used for weapons, but that he supplied material and technology to produce them.

Mr. Van Anraat ``delivered chemical components to Saddam Hussein's regime that led to the deaths of thousands in Iran and Iraq, and therefore, is complicit in committing the crime of all crimes,'' lead prosecutor Fred Teeven said.

Mr. Van Anraat's lawyer argued the Dutch court had no jurisdiction in the case and asked for his client's release. The court rejected the motion.

In his opening remarks, defence counsel Peter van Schaik made no reference to the specific allegations of supplying chemical weapons components. Mr. Van Anraat previously acknowledged selling chemicals to Mr. Hussein's regime, but claimed his actions were legitimate business deals. His indictment says the lethal gas was used in attacks on the villages of Halabja, Goptata, Birjinni and Zewa with the intention of wiping out the ethnic Kurdish population in whole or in part, constituting genocide.

Impact on Hussein trial

Mr. Van Schaik argued that it was up to the Iraq courts, not the Dutch, to determine whether genocide had occurred. He also cautioned that the proceedings in The Hague could be used in the Hussein trial and contribute to a death sentence, which would violate European legal standards.

Mr. Teeven argued the case had gone too far through the Dutch legal process to be thrown out. The prosecutor said more than 800 tonnes of thiodiglycol supplied by Mr. Van Anraat ``ended up in the battlefield in Iran and Iraq.''

Mr. Hussein's regime is accused of killing some 180,000 Kurds. The poison gas attack on Halabja alone killed 5,000 Kurdish guerrillas and civilians on March 16, 1988. — AP

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