Alwaght- Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) called on the UK to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia, as the regime continues its brutal war on its neighboring Yemen killing and injuring tens of thousands of civilian, mostly children and women.
Describing human rights situation in Saudi Arabia as 'dire', Anti-arms trade activist, Andrew Smith, told "The fact that it [Saudi regime] is also the world’s largest buyer of UK weapons is a sign of the real hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy”.
"What right does the UK have to talk about human rights and democracy when its ministers are directly promoting arms sales to a regime that tortures bloggers?" he added.
CAAT call came as a Saudi blogger last week was sentenced to a decade in prison and 1,000 lashes by the regime's Supreme Court for expressing his political views. The verdict has provoked anger among social activists worldwide.
Unfortunately this is only the latest reminder of the Saudi regime’s brutality. Last March saw the introduction of a new ‘terrorism’ law that treats all atheists and political dissidents as enemies of the state, and this year has seen the doubling of executions.
During its first four years, the Coalition government continued the UK’s long standing policy by licensing £3.8 billion worth of arms to the regime. This included licenses for combat aircraft, components for bombs, weapon sights and tear gas. There is no suggestion that this will change under the current government, pressenza.com reported.
The UK government has not just authorized these sales, it has also promoted them. Ministers have enjoyed a politically intimate relationship with the Saudi rulers, and even UK Royals have been co-opted into promoting arms sales. This was evident last year when Prince Charles used a visit to Saudi Arabia to promote Eurofighter sales for BAE Systems.
Andrew continued: “The government is working hand in glove with arms companies like BAE Systems that are profiting from the oppression taking place. With the intensification of the crackdown on dissent, and with the humanitarian catastrophe being unleashed on Yemen, we have to ask, what would it take for the UK to finally stop selling arms to this terrible regime?”
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In Focus
Ansarullah
A Zaidi Shiite movement operating in Yemen. It seeks to establish a democratic government in Yemen.
Shiite
represents the second largest denomination of Islam. Shiites believe Ali (peace be upon him) to be prophet"s successor in the Caliphate.
Resistance
Axis of Resistances refers to countries and movements with common political goal, i.e., resisting against Zionist regime, America and other western powers. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Palestine are considered as the Axis of Resistance.
Persian Gulf Cooperation Council
A regional political u n i o n consisting of Arab states of the Persian Gulf, except for Iraq.
Taliban
Taliban is a Sunni fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan. It was founded by Mohammed Omar in 1994.
Wahhabism & Extremism
Wahhabism is an extremist pseudo-Sunni movement, which labels non-Wahhabi Muslims as apostates thus paving the way for their bloodshed.
Kurds
Kurds are an ethnic group in the Middle East, mostly inhabiting a region, which spans adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. They are an Iranian people and speak the Kurdish languages, which form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian branch of Iranian languages.
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949.
Islamic Awakening
Refers to a revival of the Islam throughout the world, that began in 1979 by Iranian Revolution that established an Islamic republic.
Al-Qaeda
A militant Sunni organization founded by Osama bin Laden at some point between 1988 and 1989
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