London High Court examines legality of UK resuming Saudi arms sales

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London's High Court on Tuesday examined the legality of the UK government's decision to renew sales of arms to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the war on Yemen.

The case has been brought by the UK-based NGO, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which accuses the government of contributing to breaches of international law and the world's largest humanitarian disaster in Yemen, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The judicial review is expected to last until the end of the week.

Demonstrators stood outside the court Tuesday morning and hung a banner on the gates saying: "Stop arming Saudi Arabia" and "Solidarity with Yemen."

Ben Jaffey, CAAT's lawyer, told the court that the UK government should have identified the Saudi coalition's repeated bombings of civilians and other non-military targets as violations of international law, breaching rules on arms sales.

The NGO launched the legal challenge after Britain announced in the summer of 2020 that it was resuming arms sales to Saudi Arabia, claiming that there was no clear risk that weapons would be used in a serious violation of international humanitarian law. 

Over 25,000 airstrikes, mostly by #SaudiArabia and made possible by the UK's Royal Air Force, have resulted in the death of almost 9,000 civilians.#Yemen #YemenCantWait pic.twitter.com/vjiutMxB5h

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 11, 2023

The UK government acknowledged there had been "small breaches", but called these "isolated cases", Jaffey said, describing this as "absurd".

He detailed numerous Saudi bombings aimed at civilians, including a bombing that targeted a Doctors without Borders (MSF) hospital and killed about 10 people in 2016.

A single violation is enough for arms sales to come under question, Jaffey considered.

Read more: Report shows scale of destruction by UK-armed strikes in Yemen

UK government cares "more about profit than war crimes"

Ahead of the hearing, CAAT media coordinator Emily Apple accused the UK government of caring "more about profit than war crimes and the deaths of civilians."

"These arms sales are unlawful and they should be stopped," she told AFP.

The NGO initially won its case against the government in 2019, when the Court of Appeal ruled that the UK's licensing of arms sales was unlawful and that the 

It also said the government had failed to assess properly whether the arms sales violated its commitments to human rights and ordered it to "reconsider the matter."

It is noteworthy that while serving as International Trade Minister, Liz Truss conducted a review and announced in 2020 that export licenses would restart, claiming that Riyadh "has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with IHL (international humanitarian law)", despite "isolated incidents".

UK one of leading suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia

CAAT said the UK government has licensed sales to Riyadh of weaponry including combat aircraft, guided bombs, and missiles, with a published value since 2015 of £7.9 billion ($9.8 billion).

It said the UK is one of the leading suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia, along with the United States.

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Martin Butcher, peace and conflict advisor at the charity Oxfam, highlighted that Saudi airstrikes "are responsible for a larger proportion of the attacks" on civilians in Yemen.

"It's essential that the legality of UK arms sales is examined and arms sales must be immediately stopped," Butcher stressed.

Human Rights Watch researcher Niku Jafarnia said in a statement Tuesday that "violations are not simply 'isolated incidents' as the government claims," pointing out that "UK weapons have been used in some of these violations with total impunity."

Read more: UK protecting mercenary government, aggression: Sanaa