Trial of Dutch Businessman Tied to Chemical Attacks in Iraq Scheduled to Begin Today

The trial of Frans van Anraat, a Dutch businessman accused of supplying Saddam Hussein in the 1980s with an important ingredient of mustard gas, is scheduled to begin today in the Netherlands, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 8).

Van Anraat was arrested last year in connection with the 1988 gas attack of Kurds in the northern Iraqi town of Halabja. He is the first person to go to court on charges related to the massacre, said Philipe Grant of the human rights organization Trial Watch.

The indictment alleges that van Arrant supplied Saddam Hussein with chemicals used to prepare the mustard gas used in the attack. He also faces charges connected to chemical attacks in two additional Iraqi villages, and seven Iranian villages from 1986 to 1988, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 21).

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