BRIEF—AstraZeneca asks for terror charges to be dropped

According to reports in The Times, AstraZeneca has asked a US federal court to dismiss a damages claim against it filed by more than 300 US personnel who served in Iraq between 2005 and 2009, who allege that the Anglo-Swedish company helped to finance terrorism in the country.

Lawyers for the claimants allege that AstraZeneca, which gave free drugs to the Iraqi Ministry of Health alongside Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Roche and GE Healthcare, bears responsibility for the money generated when those drugs were later sold on the black market — funds which were used to attack American servicepeople and civilians.

AstraZeneca has moved to have the case dismissed on the grounds that American federal courts do not have jurisdiction over AstraZeneca or Roche, as the companies are headquartered in the UK and Switzerland respectively.