Dutch Businessman Tied to Iraqi Chemical Sales May Face Genocide, War Crimes Charges

A Dutch court Friday said a businessman accused of supplying chemical weapons precursors to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein could continue to be held in custody, allowing prosecutors additional time to interview witnesses in an attempt to establish a link to what they called Iraq’s policy “aimed at destroying, in whole or in part, an ethnic minority,” the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 18).

Frans van Anraat faces allegations of war crimes and complicity in genocide because the chemicals he sold were used by the Hussein regime in mustard and nerve gas attacks against Iran and Kurdish villages within Iraq, according to AP.

Jan Peter van Schaik, Van Anraat’s lead counsel, said his client had not known the chemicals were intended for military use (Anthony Deutsch, Associated Press, June 10).

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