VIENNA, Feb 15: Austrian far-right strongman Joerg Haider could face jail after taking medical equipment to sanctions-hit Iraq during his visit this week, a government spokeswoman said Friday.

Under European Union law, anyone who wants to export goods to Iraq must apply to the economy ministry for permission, a spokeswoman for Economy Minister Martin Bartenstein told AFP.

“No such application has been made,” said Ingrid Nemec.

If the goods were worth more than 73,000 euros, Haider could face a fine of up to 145,000 euros (127,000 dollars) “as well as imprisonment for up to two years,” Nemec said.

Haider’s three-day visit to Iraq this week, during which he met President Saddam Hussein, has been widely criticised both nationally and internationally.

On Thursday, the United States called on Austria to investigate Haider’s trip and report its findings to the United Nations to determine if it had violated any UN sanctions.

A State Department spokesman declined to specify what UN sanctions Haider might have violated by taking the trip but said there were “issues of money, of travel, of other things that probably need to be looked into.”

Iraq has been under UN sanctions since its August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.—AFP