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Frans van Anraat (Photo ANP) |
In December last year, Frans van Anraat was sentenced to 15 years in jail. The court in The Hague found him guilty of supplying materials for chemical weapons to the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1980s. He was acquitted of complicity in genocide because he reportedly did not know that Saddam Hussein intended to use poison gas on the Iraqi population.
Suspected
Frans van Anraat was first suspected of illegally supplying chemical materials to Iraq in 1989. The US authorities picked up his trail and that of his Japanese business partner Hishiro "Charlie" Tanaka in Italy and requested Van Anraat's extradition. He was released pending the processing of the extradition request and fled to Baghdad.
On 7 May 1990, Frans van Anraat wrote a letter (see PDF file ) to former dictator Saddam Hussein in which he requested Iraqi nationality. "Dear Mr President," he wrote, I first came to your country in 1977 and lived in Baghdad for three years. I have come to love your people and your country, which I now consider my second country. I am proud of what I did for this country."
According to a letter from the Iraqi secret service to the head of the military industry dated 8 January 1992 (click here for translation), what Frans van Anraat did for Iraq was: "supply banned and difficult to obtain chemical substances, at great risk to himself. And at reasonable prices compared to earlier quotes from other companies."
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A letter from the Iraqi secret service to the head of the Iraqi military industry about Van Anraat |
When Van Anraat was granted Iraqi nationality on 4 June 1990, he converted to Islam and took the name of Faris Mansur Rasheed Al-Bazaz. On 30 March 1991 he married Hanan Muhamed Mahmood, a woman of Palestinian descent holding Jordanian nationality.
The couple took up residence in an expensively decorated apartment on Haifa Street, complex number 102, apartment 52 on the 6th floor.
Not long after he was married, Frans Van Anraat began to suspect his wife of passing on information to the US. He left her and petitioned a court for a divorce.
His wife in her turn filed a report with the police accusing him of stealing their furniture. On 22 September 1991 they got divorced the traditional way, with a local Imam overseeing it.
| The Public Prosecutor wants to hear from Ali Hassan al-Majid, a.k.a Chemical Ali, in the Van Anraat case. Saddam Hussein's former right hand man is thought to know more about the role Frans van Anraat played in the supply of chemicals for the production of poison gas. The Public Prosecutor submitted a request for assistance to the Iraqi authorities on the same day that Ali Hassan al-Majid heard the Iraqi prosecutor demand the death sentence against him. He is on trial for the poison gas attacks on the Kurdish population in northern Iraq. It is unlikely the Dutch authorities will be able to question Ali Hassan al-Majid as he may be executed before the end of the month. |
After his divorce, his first wife and their son joined him in Baghdad. Frans van Anraat again received the assistance of the Iraqi secret service. In a letter, they requested a safe house for him and his family.
His son was to be admitted to the international school in Baghdad "without paying the mandatory admission fees because his father is an Iraqi." In addition, they also requested mediation to expedite his divorce case with the court. All these requests were granted by Saddam Hussein.
The presidential office next received letters from all authorities involved that they complied, enabling Frans van Anraat to continue his life of luxury in Baghdad in peace. He continued living there until the fall of the Baath regime in 2003.
The question is whether the documents constitute sufficient evidence of complicity in genocide. During the first day of the appeal, Frans van Anraat recognised the letter he wrote to Saddam Hussein, but said he had no recollection of the other documents. His lawyers disputed the documents, and the court has given the Public Prosecutor's Office until 20 April to submit proof of their authenticity.
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Republic of Iraq Highly confidential and personal To: the Head of the Military Industry Commission 2. The United States Central Intelligence Agency discovered his trade in banned substances with Iraq while conducting an investigation into other substances exported to Iran by a German company. They found that the substances had entered our country via the Jordanian port of Al Aqaba. As a result he was arrested in Italy. He was released after bribing officials. 3. The United States government tried to induce him to go to Europe. He was offered the directorship of the US company "Kolak" (phonetically spelled). He refused the offer because he sensed that it was an attempted lure. He remained in our country during the aggression (Gulf War). He was naturalised as an Iraqi citizen and granted an Iraqi passport and identity. 4. During his stay in the country he became acquainted with the Palestinian Hanan Mohammad Mahmoud and a relationship developed between them, which led to marriage. The relationship did not last long due to suspicions concerning his wife. He believed her to have passed information on his address in Iraq to a Jordanian who is known to have connections with the US Central Intelligence Agency. He plans to divorce her. We are certain that she is being held under observation by the US Central Intelligence Agency, aided by European allies. 5. The aforementioned is currently unemployed. He is suffering great financial difficulties, as he has no income. Particularly since his first wife and their son returned to Iraq, these difficulties have become so great that he is unable to pay the fees for his son's international school. 6. His wife and son recently returned from Switzerland.
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Tags: complicity, death, illegal, Iraq, Kurdish, Saddam Hussein, supplying chemical weapons, van anraat