Anti-arms trade activists are demanding that the UK stops peddling arms to Saudi Arabia, as the death toll in Yemen passes 2,000. Their call comes as a Saudi blogger faces a decade in prison and 1,000 lashes for expressing his political views.
The 10-year and 1,000 lashes sentence for Raif Badawi was upheld by the Supreme Court in the Gulf kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, last week. The ruling has sparked outrage among social justice groups around the globe.
Speaking Monday, Andrew Smith of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) said the human rights situation in Saudi is “dire.”
“The fact that it is also the world’s largest buyer of UK weapons is a sign of the real hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy,” he said.
“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?”
Over the course of its first four years in government, the previous Tory-Lib Dem coalition plowed ahead with the UK’s well-trodden policy of licensing £3.8 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia. Full story...
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The 10-year and 1,000 lashes sentence for Raif Badawi was upheld by the Supreme Court in the Gulf kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, last week. The ruling has sparked outrage among social justice groups around the globe.
Speaking Monday, Andrew Smith of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) said the human rights situation in Saudi is “dire.”
“The fact that it is also the world’s largest buyer of UK weapons is a sign of the real hypocrisy at the heart of UK foreign policy,” he said.
“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?”
Over the course of its first four years in government, the previous Tory-Lib Dem coalition plowed ahead with the UK’s well-trodden policy of licensing £3.8 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia. Full story...
Related posts:
- Saudi airstrikes kill 44, including 20 civilians, in Yemen's capital...
- Yemen's deepening humanitarian crisis leaves almost no one untouched...
- Air strikes kill at least 80 in deadliest bombings of Yemen war...
- Yemen crisis: Over 1,000 civilians dead as UN warns Saudi Arabia, militias...
- Saudi Arabia tops India as world’s biggest arms importer...
- Britain slammed for arms sales to Israel, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia...
- Human rights are not for sale: Why the UK must stop arming Bahrain...
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