Reports

Pakistani Government Seeks to Investigate A.Q. Khan’s Activities

March 22, 2010

Download PDF

Reuters reported on March 22, 2010 that Pakistan’s government has sought court permission to investigate disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan on charges of transferring nuclear know-how to other countries while restraining him from making any statements to the foreign press. According to the government lawyer, this petition was filed in the nation’s High Court after two recent reports in the Washington Post that Khan had offered nuclear aid to Iraq and Iran. 1 The government move occurred as Khan and his lawyers have attempted to further weaken constraints on his movements and activities, following the end of his house arrest in early 2009.

Khan was also involved in outfitting Libya’s nuclear weapon program, details of which can be found in Peddling Peril, chapter 6. For a description of that assistance by a Khan network insider, see the affidavit of his chief aid, Sri Lankan B.S.A. Tahir, which was given in the South African court case against Khan network members Gerhard Wisser and Daniel Geiges. In 2007, both pled guilty to illegally outfitting Libya’s nuclear weapons program as part of the Khan network. Additional information about the criminal activities of the South African node of the Khan network can be found in Wisser’s 2007 Plea and Sentence Agreement.

To view other original documents in the South African court case, click here.

To view ISIS’s Peddling Peril page, click here.

1 R. Jeffrey Smith and Joby Warrick, Pakistani scientist Khan describes Iranian efforts to buy nuclear bombs, Washington Post; March 14, 2010: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/13/AR2010031302258.html?sub=AR Joby Warrick, Saddam Hussein weighed nuclear ‘package’ deal in 1990, documents show, Washington Post; March 10, 2010: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/09/AR2010030903775.html

email us twitter share on facebook