A court in the southwestern German city of Karlsruhe has rejected an appeal to release Jurgen Hippenstiel-Imhausen, owner and former manager of a chemical plant in southern Germany accused of illegally assisting Libya to manufacture chemical weapons.
Meanwhile, the state prosecutor in Munich indirectly confirmed a British newspaper report last week that more than 100 West German technicians are at a resort in the Libyan desert working on a project to produce medium-range missiles which could reach Israel.
Proceedings have been opened against a Bavarian company alleged to have helped Libya build the missiles.
Imhausen was arrested May 10. He is suspected of having personally played a key role in building a poison-gas factory in Rabta, a Libyan town south of Tripoli.
The panel of judges in Karlsruhe noted that Imhausen faces a long prison term if convicted and that to release him from jail would run the risk of his escape.
He ordered shipments of highly sensitive technical and electronic equipment to the Rabta plant without applying for or possessing the requisite documents from the West German authorities, the judges said.
They noted that Imhausen made every effort to conceal his illegal activities, including use of a code name, “Pharma 150.”
He is alleged to have destroyed incriminating documents before he was arrested.
The court’s ruling officially confirmed for the first time many allegations in the American press last year that West German industrialists were helping the Libyans produce chemical arms.
The Bonn government vigorously denied the charges at the time, attributing them to an “anti-German campaign” in the American media.
Some German news organization, including the state-owned television station, claimed it was guided by influential Jews in the United States.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
