The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that a chemical company accused of selling chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein’s regime in the ’80s cannot be held liable under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA).

In the 1980s, the Republic of Iraq, then under Hussein’s dictatorial control, was embroiled in a long-term armed conflict with Iran. International news media widely reported - and the United States government explicitly condemned - the Iraqi regime’s large-scale use of mustard gas and other chemical weapons against Iran.

Simultaneously, Iraq launched chemical weapon attacks against the Kurds in northern Iraq, whom Hussein accused of collaborating with Iran. In April 1984, the U.N. Secretary General released a report confirming that mustard gas and chemical weapons had been used in the Iraq-Iran war. The Australia Group, an international coalition of governments, responded by imposing licensing restrictions on the export of chemicals used in chemical weapons.

The Appellants, individuals of Kurdish decent who are either victims of mustard gas attacks or family members of deceased victims, sued Alcolac under the TVPA claiming that Alcolac sold TDG to the Hussein regime, which used the chemical in mustard gas attacks on the Appellants.

Related Resources:

  • Court affirms dismissal of poison-gas lawsuit (Forbes)
  • 7th Cir Says Kiobel Wrong, Corporations Liable Under Alien Tort Law (FindLaw’s Seventh Circuit blog)
  • Mohammed Aziz v. Alcolac (Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
  • Will SCOTUS Hear Alien Tort Act Case? (FindLaw’s Supreme Court blog)

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