‘Nuclear spy’ Abdul Qadir Khan (85) dies | Abroad

In the past, he worked at the Urenco ultracentrifuge factory in Almelo. He used the knowledge gained there about enriching uranium to develop a nuclear bomb in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis see Khan as a hero for that reason.

Pakistani Defense Minister Pervez Khattak called Khan’s death a “great loss”. Pakistan will always honor him for the services he has done for his country, the minister said.

Khan complained last month that neither the prime minister nor other members of the government had inquired about his health while he was being treated in a hospital. He was tested positive for the corona virus at the end of August, according to Pakistani media.

Nuclear Espionage

In 1983 the court in Amsterdam convicted Khan in absentia for nuclear espionage, but on appeal he was acquitted because of a formal error. In Pakistan, it was long rumored that Khan had sold technology on his own initiative to Iran, Libya and North Korea in the 1990s, but in 2013, the nuclear scientist said that he had acquired knowledge about nuclear technology on behalf of then Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. had played on.

Khan was born in India in 1936 and emigrated with his family to Pakistan after the decolonization of the subcontinent. He studied in the 1960s in Berlin, Delft and Leuven. He subsequently conducted research in the Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory in Amsterdam and at Urenco. He later founded a political movement in his homeland.

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