UK Government Faces Fresh Legal Challenge Over Arms Sales To Saudi Arabia - Campaign

Faizan Hashmi Published October 27, 2020 | 07:33 PM

The UK government is facing a new legal challenge over its decision to sell billions of dollars' worth of arms to Saudi Arabia that have subsequently been used in the conflict in Yemen, as the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) filed a judicial review application on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) The UK government is facing a new legal challenge over its decision to sell billions of Dollars' worth of arms to Saudi Arabia that have subsequently been used in the conflict in Yemen, as the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) filed a judicial review application on Tuesday.

According to the CAAT, the United Kingdom has licensed 5.4 billion Pounds ($7.0 billion) in arms sales to Saudi Arabia since the latter entered into the conflict in Yemen on the side of the Yemeni government in 2015. The campaign said that the actual figure is likely to be larger, citing the $19.5 billion in revenues received from Saudi Arabia by BAE, the UK's largest arms company.

"Tens of thousands of people have been killed in this brutal bombardment, yet arms companies have profited every step of the way. These arms sales have only fuelled the destruction and prolonged the conflict.

Last year the Court of Appeal found that the government had acted illegally, and nothing that we have seen since suggests otherwise," Andrew Smith of the CAAT said in a press release.

The UK's Court of Appeal ruled in June 2019 that the government unlawfully licensed arms sales to Saudi Arabia without conducting an assessment of whether the equipment would be used to violate international humanitarian law.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government this past July announced that it was planning to greenlight further arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi-led coalition of Arab states entered into the Yemeni conflict in 2015 after Houthi rebels made substantial gains during early clashes with government forces. The United Nations has estimated that thousands of civilians in Yemen have died as a result of the coalition's airstrikes.