German jailed for exporting arms to Iraq

A German businessman has been jailed for more than three years for illegally exporting arms, including Scud missile launchers, to Iraq.

A court in the city of Darmstadt found the man guilty of breaking German export laws by making four-million dollars worth of illegal deliveries between l988 and l990.

Prosecutors said the equipment might well have been used against Israel and the American-led allies during the Gulf War.

The BBC Bonn correspondent says the trial is an embarrassment to Germany, coming shortly after two other men were jailed for supplying electrical parts to Libya, which were allegedly used to make chemical weapons.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service