Belgian companies prosecuted for unlicensed chemical exports to Syria

Three Belgian companies are being prosecuted for unlicensed chemical exports to Syria.

Chemical company AAE Chemie and handling agents Anex Customs and Danmar Logistics are accused of shipping isopropanol, acetone, methanol and dichloromethane to Syria between May 2014 and December 2016 without an export licence. Isopropanol is a key component in the nerve gas, sarin, which is suspected of being used in chemical attacks by President Bashar Al-Assad against his own people, most recently on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in north-western Syria in early April.

Isopropanol has been on the EU’s list of substances banned from export to Syria since July 2013, and the OPCW-UN Joint Mission confirmed the destruction of the entire declared Syrian stockpile of some 120 metric tons of isopropanol in May 2014.

The three companies are alleged to have exported some 152 metric tons of the substance to Syria after this date. The trial starts in Antwerp on 15 May.