A number of victims of mustard gas attacks in Iran and Iraq are in court in the Netherlands on Wednesday to demand compensation from the Dutch businessman who sold the chemicals used to make the gas.

Frans van Anraat was first found guilty of war crimes in 2005 for supplying large quantities of chemicals to Saddam Hussein’s regime in the 1980s which were then used to make chemical weapons.
He is currently serving a 16.5 jail term after a string of appeals. This summer, the appeal court upheld the conviction but refused to award damages to 16 claimants, saying it was too complicated.
Those 16 are now back in court demanding €25,000 in compensation per person in a civil procedure. This is an ‘acknowledgement of their suffering and damages,’ lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld told Trouw.