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Dutch man appeals Saddam-era war crimes conviction

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Dutch businessman appealing his war crimes conviction denied Monday that he knew chemicals he sold to Saddam Hussein's regime would be used to make poison gas.

Frans van Anraat, 64, is petitioning to overturn a 15-year prison sentence handed down in December 2005 for selling tons of chemicals made into mustard and nerve gas that was unleashed on Kurdish villages in northern Iraq in 1987-88 and against Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

While Van Anraat appealed his conviction of complicity in war crimes, prosecutors appealed his acquittal of complicity in genocide, which carries a maximum 30-year sentence.
Read entire article at AP