US sanctions people, firms linked to AQ Khan

By Augustine Anthony

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani court declared disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan free on Friday, ending five years of house arrest for the man at the center of the world's most serious proliferation scandal.

Khan, lionized by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004, but was immediately pardoned by the government, although his movements were restricted to effective house arrest.

"It's a matter of joy. The judgment, by the grace of Allah, is good," Khan told reporters outside his Islamabad house soon after news of the High Court ruling broke.

The 72-year-old scientist, who has been treated for prostate cancer, said he did not care what foreign governments thought.

"I am obliged to answer only to my government not to any foreigners," he said.

Khan's detention had been relaxed over the past year and he had been allowed to meet friends and had traveled to the city of Karachi at least once under tight security.

He had also given a series of interviews to media after a new government came to power last March but was barred from speaking to reporters by a July court ruling.

Khan's lawyer Ali Zafar said the High Court had declared that he was not involved in nuclear proliferation or criminal activity and there was no case against him.

"The court has ordered that he's a free man," Zafar told Reuters.

The government had for long maintained that Khan was not officially under house arrest but was being held for his own security. It was not immediately clear to what extent security agencies would still restrict his movements.

Pakistan has never let foreign investigators question Khan, saying it had passed on all relevant information about his nuclear proliferation.

SMUGGLED BLUEPRINTS

The government declined to comment on the court decision but said as a responsible nuclear-armed state, it had taken all necessary measures to promote the goal of non-proliferation.

"The so-called A. Q. Khan affair is a closed chapter," the Foreign Ministry said.

Nevertheless, U.S. and international nuclear experts investigating proliferation still want to question Khan.

Last year, a U.N. nuclear watchdog said Khan's network smuggled nuclear blueprints to Iran, Libya and North Korea and was active in 12 countries.

The U.S. State Department said last month it had imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and three private companies because of their involvement in Khan's network.

Khan said he was proud of what he had done for Pakistan, in making it safe from India, and said he had no need to answer to any foreign government.

"I will always be proud about what I did for Pakistan," he told reporters.

Khan said he was finished with his nuclear work and wanted to devote his time to education. He said he had no plan to travel abroad apart from Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, for a Muslim pilgrimage.

Khan would still need security but from now on he had to agree to it, his lawyer, Zafar, said.

"What used to happen was that under the garb of security, Dr Khan was kept under detention," Zafar told Reuters. "What the court has done is say 'yes, he is entitled to state protection but it has to be by mutual consent, it can't be imposed protection'."

(Additional reporting by Aftab Borka; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
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WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US State Department Monday unveiled sanctions against 13 people and three firms implicated in the nuclear proliferation network set up by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

The State Department said that even though Khan and his associates have been arrested, prosecuted or convicted it was important to prevent the 16 from resuming proliferation activities and to deter other proliferators.

Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, has been effectively under house arrest in Islamabad since February 2004, when he confessed on television to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He later retracted his remarks.

"We believe these sanctions will help prevent future proliferation-related activities by these private entities," the State Department said in a statement.

The measures will "provide a warning to other would-be proliferators, and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to using all available tools to address proliferation-related activities," it added.

"Many of Dr. Khan's associates are either in custody, being prosecuted, or have been convicted of crimes," it added.

"While we believe the A.Q. Khan network is no longer operating, countries should remain vigilant to ensure that Khan network associates, or others seeking to pursue similar proliferation activities, will not become a future source for sensitive nuclear information or equipment," it said.

Most of those sanctioned have for years been mentioned in the media over their links to Khan: Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and his firm EKA Elektronik Kontrol Aletleri Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, Pakistani scientists Muhammad Farooq and Muhammad Nasim ud Din, Sri Lankan scientist Buhary Seyyed Abu Tahor, German engineers Gerhard Wisser and Gotthard Lerch, Swiss engineer Daniel Geiges and British businessmen and brothers Paul and Peter Griffin.

Set up by Wisser, the South African firm Tradefin Engineering is also on the list which nevertheless does not say whether these individuals or firms have business interests in the United States or retain contacts with US firms.

In line with a number of US laws and decrees, the sanctions bar these individuals and firms from obtaining any private or government loans and forbid the US government from having any commercial links with them.

The statement mentions other people without listing their nationalities or links to Khan: Kursad Zafer Cire, Shamsul Bahrin bin Rubikan, Shah Hakim Shahnazim Zain and the Turkish firm ETI Elektroteknik Sanayi ve Tikaret AS.

"The network's actions have irrevocably changed the proliferation landscape and have had lasting implications for international security," according to the State Department statement.

Among those that helped shut down the network are the governments of including Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey, Britain, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and Malaysia, it said.