Dutchman suspected of helping Saddam goes on trial

Dutchman suspected of helping Saddam goes on trial
Reuters

Nov 21, 2005 — By Wendel Broere

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A Dutch businessman accused of selling chemicals to Iraq knowing Saddam Hussein would use them for poison gas attacks went on trial in the Netherlands on Monday on charges of complicity in war crimes and genocide.

Frans van Anraat, 63, is charged with supplying thousands of tonnes of agents for poison gas used by Saddam's military in Iraq's 1980-1988 war against Iran and against its own Kurdish population, including an attack on the town of Halabja in 1988.

Prosecutor Fred Teeven told a pre-trial hearing that Van Anraat continued to supply chemicals after the Halabja attack, which killed an estimated 5,000 people 17 years ago this week.

A small group demonstrating outside the Hague court displayed dozens of photographs of Kurdish victims of chemical weapons. They held a red banner reading "Genocide Never Again."
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1332700

Pity that no Reagan and Poppy Bush officials are there to join him.