A DUTCH businessman was given a 15-year prison sentence yesterday after he was found guilty of complicity in war crimes for selling chemicals to Saddam Hussein's Iraq which were used to carry out gas attacks.
The court in the Hague said Frans van Anraat, 63, supplied the raw materials knowing they would be used to make poison gas during 1980-1988 war with Iran.
Poison gas was also used against Iraq's own Kurdish population, including an attack on the town of Halabja in 1988.
Roel van Rossum, the presiding judge told a packed court: "His deliveries facilitated the attacks and constitute a very serious war crime. He cannot counter with the argument that this would have happened even without his contribution.
"Even the maximum sentence is not enough to cover the seriousness of the acts."
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