German man pleads guilty in SA nuclear case

[xavier]

A South African court sentenced a German man to 18 years in prison on Tuesday but suspended the jail term after he pleaded guilty in a case involving a global black market in atomic weapons technology.

Gerhard Wisser, an engineer living in South Africa, was accused of having ties to a network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced father of Pakistan's atomic bomb who has admitted giving nuclear secrets to nations under international embargo.

Wisser pleaded guilty to manufacturing components that could be used in nuclear development illegally and six other charges in a deal with prosecutors in Pretoria. The state agreed that his sentence be suspended for five years.

Swiss citizen Daniel Geiges, who was also charged in the same case, is due to appear in court on September 21 to face similar charges.

The case is part of an international effort to crack what prosecutors say is a trade network that helped Libya, North Korea and Iran skirt sanctions in their quest for nuclear technology. - Reuters
Related articles

 

[SABRE]

Gerhard Wisser, an engineer living in South Africa, was accused of having ties to a network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced father of Pakistan's atomic bomb who has admitted giving nuclear secrets to nations under international embargo.

Just for the information. The father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb is not AQ Khan, its Dr. Munir Ahmed Khan.

 

[kato]

Just for the information. The father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb is not AQ Khan, its Dr. Munir Ahmed Khan.

MA Khan = director of PAEC since 1972, director of the bomb development program
AQ Khan = the guy who brought in uranium enrichment technologies from URENCO and FDO

Both worked together (well, and against each other) on the bomb since 1974. MA Khan preferred the plutonium path, AQ Khan the uranium path.
As initial Pakistani bombs were HEU-based, one might argue that AQ Khan "won".

 

[SABRE]

MA Khan = director of PAEC since 1972, director of the bomb development program
AQ Khan = the guy who brought in uranium enrichment technologies from URENCO and FDO

Both worked together (well, and against each other) on the bomb since 1974. MA Khan preferred the plutonium path, AQ Khan the uranium path.
As initial Pakistani bombs were HEU-based, one might argue that AQ Khan "won".

MA Khan wins where it comes to being nuclear scientist, starting the program in "1972", preparing the bomb & putting it to cold test.

Where as AQ Khan is not even a nuclear scientist. He is a Metallurgist & he was still doing his PhD in Europe when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto called a conference in Multan & handed the project to MA Khan. What MA Khan was lacking in the program were centrifuge - this is where AQ Khan came in. He gave Pakistan Centrifuges.

Anyways, this is going OFF-TOPIC. So lets get back to the real discussion.