Iraqi Kurd gas victims sue Dutchman for damages

Victims of poisonous gas attacks on the Kurds in northern Iraq have demanded compensation from a Dutch businessman.

A Dutch court began hearing a suit Wednesday filed by 16 Iraqi Kurds seeking compensation from Frans van Anraat. The Dutchman sold chemicals for making poison gas to Saddam Hussein's regime. This gas was unleashed on Iranians and Kurds, including relatives of the plaintiffs, according to the claim.

Frans van Anraat was convicted of war crimes in the Netherlands and sentenced to 16.5 years in prison. The victims' lawyer, Liesbeth Zegveld, said the suit is strong, given that Van Anraat's 2005 conviction has been upheld by the Dutch high court.

Recovering damages, however, will be difficult. Van Anraat says he spent all his money fleeing from country to country after Saddam's regime fell. Prosecutors in Van Anraat's criminal case are still trying to trace whether he may have hidden assets. The victims are claiming 25,000 euros each.

"He made quite a bit of profit selling chemicals in the 1980s, but it's very difficult to know how much of that is left," Zegveld said. "We may have to wait and see how he supports himself once he comes free."

A Dutch criminal court and the high court both refused to award compensation this year, because it would be too difficult to get money from Van Anraat. The victims are now taking civil action.

Now 67, Van Anraat could be released as early as 2014 if he wins time off for good behaviour.

The plaintiffs include survivors of Saddam's infamous March 1988 gas attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in which an estimated 5,600 civilians were killed. Saddam, then Iraq's dictator, ordered the Halabja attack as part of a scorched-earth campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion in the north, which was seen as aiding Iran in the final months of its war with Iraq.

Several of the victims have been permanently disabled since the attack, they suffer from severe lung damage, blindness, skin diseases and respiratory symptoms.

Van Anraat was Iraq's sole supplier of a chemical called TDG, or thiodiglycol, for its mustard gas production program. The use of mustard gas was internationally banned in the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

Judges said he knew the chemicals might well be used for war crimes, but sold more than 1,000 tons to Saddam anyway, motivated by greed. VanAnraat continued selling the chemicals even after learning of the Halabja attack.

Neither he nor the victims will appear in court Wednesday.