Talk:Frans van Anraat
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[edit] Corrections: Dates, Places
Frans van Anraat, aka Frank Cornelis Adrianus van Anraat, was arrested in Amsterdam on December 7, 2004, (some reports indicate December 6, 2004), accused of supplying thiodiglycol to Saddam Hussein that was used to gas the Kurdish town of Halabja, Iraq on March 16, 1988 which resulted in approximately 5000 deaths and thousands of long term injuries. On January 28, 2005, an appeal judge in The Hague ordered his release. A petition signed by more than 6000 Halabja residents calling for the prosecution of van Anraat apparently was not cause enough for the Dutch to hold him, although his passport was held and he was told not to leave the Netherlands. Anraat was later rearrested after the press began covering the protests of the Halabja petitioners. The court case was controversial because Van Anraat appears to have become an informant of the Dutch secret service in the new Millennium and moved to a safe house owned by the government. He was no longer a wanted man when he, after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, fled to the Netherlands via Syria.
Background: Van Anraat was placed on the US Customs "most wanted" list in 1988, when the canisters containing the chemicals were recognized in news video footage of the Halabja Massacre, and an international arrest warrant was issued in 1989. He was arrested in Milan in 1989, but the US extradition request was rejected and he was released. In 2000, the arrest warrant was withdrawn by the US Government without any explanation. (Guardian, UK, www.buzzle.com/editorials, www.msnbc.msn.com, www.news.com.au.)
The source of the shipments were in the U.S. and Japan, routed through Belgium and Jordan to Iraq. Also involved at the time were an Iranian diplomat, Karim Ali Sobhani, but it was a Japanese National Charles Tananka that came up with idea of one American Company, N.J. based Alcolac International, selling it to another American Company, Nu Kraft Mercantile (an empty warehouse in Brooklyn, New York) owned by United Steel and Strip Corp. The US company that sourced some of the thiodiglycol, Alcolac Inc., was not under investigation.
He went on trial in November 2005, denying he had any knowledge to which end the chemicals would be used by the Iraqi regime when his Swiss headquartered company FCA Contractor sold and delivered the ingredients for mustard and nerve gas. He also stated that he did not feel that he is an accomplice in the genocide because he simply delivered the chemicals as a businessman fulfilling his contractual obligations. However, Van Anraat's Japanese business partner stated on the record that he was fully aware of what the implications were and that the ingredients could be easily converted to poisonous gases. Van Anraat delivered 538 tonnes of thiodiglycol, a substance that in combination with acid salt yields some 700 tons of mustard gas. According to the Public Prosecutor, "This quantity would be enough to exterminate the entire human race." It was announced that the court would come to its conclusion on December 23, 2005, at which time was given the maximum sentence of 15 years for supplying the ingredients for making chemical weapons. (www.contentClix.com).
There’s another side to the coin. Czech born German Peter Walaschek was operating at the same time, same place, sending similar chemicals to Iran. US Customs arrested and charged him with illegally shipping thiodiglycol, to which he plead guilty but before sentencing, he boarded a plane and left the country.
On March 7 1995, Michael James of the Baltimore Sun wrote a piece entitled “Mustard Gas Fugitive Escapes Extradition. “Peter Walaschek, arrested in Croatia for selling 90 tons of CW precursors from a Baltimore company to Iran in the late 1980’s, will not face charges for his crimes in the United States. Walaschek was arrested on a warrant issued by the Interpol and was consequently extradited to his native Germany. German authorities are not obligated to extradite their own citizens and as a result Walascheck will not face US authorities. He claims that the thiodiglycol he arranged to be shipped was not used for chemical weapons and was instead used for textile production.” The amounts of thiodiglycol that that were shipped far exceeded the amount one could possible use, other than mustard gas. (http:www.dbwinfo.com/General/Proliferation/Thiodiglycol.html)
