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November 7, 2005
Holland: Scientist Defends Shipping Atomic Items to Islamic Regime
According to New Kerala, the scientist who shipped vital components to Pakistan's manufacturer of the nuclear bomb did so because he felt it was right. Henk Slebos, 62, is accused of sending parts to Abdul Qadeer Khan (pictured), which allowed him to manufacture Pakistan's nuclear bomb.
Khan went on to sell nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, though he was virtually pardoned by President Musharraf and remains a "free man".
Slebos was speaking on a Dutch television programme called Zembla, where he stated that Pakistan "needed an atom bomb." His lawyers say he did nothing wrong and have in the past refused to speak to reporters.
The details of the interview were posted yesterday on Zembla's website. The text is in Dutch, under a heading "De Nederlandse atoombom". Dutch readers should take note - there is an article there, though it is printed in the same colour as the background, and appears invisible. Highlighting it will make it legible.
An article in Expatica from February last year gives some of the background to the affair. Slebos was sentenced by a Dutch court in 1985 for 12 months jail, for selling an oscilloscope to Pakistan.
Khan had been working with a Dutch company called Physics Dynamic Research Laboratory (FDO) from 1972 to 1975. This company provided materials for uranium enrichment. Khan obtained from the company details of centrifuges which were used to extract uranium 235 from uranium hexaflouride gas. He left Holland in the mid 1970s to return to Pakistan, where he began work on developing Pakistan's atomic bomb.
In Pakistan, Khan is regarded as a hero, and has claimed that he was on a "holy mission". His selling of atomic secrets to the Islamist regime of Iran, which is now enriching uranium at a site in Isfahan, has helped to make the likelihood of Islamist nuclear war more real.
Slebos is accused of illegally shipping 20 kilograms of chemicals to Pakistan between 1999 and 2002.
Keywords: Dutch, Netherlands
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 7, 2005 8:32 AM
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