15 years for Saddam’s chemicals supplier

A DUTCH chemicals supplier was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in prison for selling Saddam Hussein’s regime the materials used in lethal gas attacks on Kurdish villages in the 1980s.

Frans van Anraat, 63, was not in the courtroom as the judges issued the verdict in the first court case anywhere concerning the killing of thousands of Iraqi Kurds with chemical weapons.

The court first determined that the slaughter of the Kurds constituted genocide a finding that may reverberate in later charges against Saddam by an Iraqi court in Baghdad and that the chemicals supplied by the businessman were essential to the making of the weapons.

But the court said Van Anraat could not be held responsible for genocide since his chemicals were delivered to Iraq before the mass killings began.

"All the deliveries took place before March 16, 1988; therefore, the defendant must be acquitted of complicity in genocide," it said, referring to the date of the attack on the village of Halabja where some 5,000 Kurds were killed.

Dozens of ethnic Kurds gathered in the courtroom to hear the verdict. A few applauded when the sentence was read. Outside the courtroom, more than 100 Kurds sang, banged drums and danced in celebration.

"I spoke to my family in Halabja and they cried with joy," survivor Dana Habajal said. "I'm so happy, I don't know what to say. I hope Saddam Hussein faces the same."

To win a conviction on the genocide charge, it would have to be proved that Van Anraat knew his supplies would be used to commit mass murder, public prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer said.

The defence said it would appeal the conviction.

The court also awarded damages of €9,500 to 15 victims, the maximum under Dutch law applicable in the case.

"These attacks were committed with the intent to destroy the Kurdish population of Iraq," the ruling said. "The court finds the intent of destruction was targeted against part of the Kurdish group as part of a genocidal intent."

Presiding Judge Roel van Rossum said Van Anraat was driven by a quest for profit and had shown no remorse, adding he knew he was violating an export ban to Iraq and mislabelled shipments so as not to attract the authorities' attention.

The ruling said the weapons were part of "a political policy of systematic terror and illegal action against a certain population group."

Citing international law, the judge said Van Anraat was found guilty of multiple counts of war crimes, violating the laws and customs of war, and causing death and serious bodily harm to the whole or entire Kurdish population.

But ultimately, it said, it was Saddam who held the reins of power in Iraq at the time of the genocide and he could be prosecuted under international law.

Prosecutors said Van Anraat shipped at least 1,100 tons of chemicals to Iraq, using a roundabout route that was meant to conceal the destination.

Van Anraat has said he was unaware that the material would be used in chemical warfare, and that he was being unfairly targeted while countless others have not been prosecuted for supplying arms and military intelligence to Iraq.