Following the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the United Kingdom (UK) has continued to sell £648 million ($810 million) worth of arms to Saudi Arabia.
These weapons – including grenades, bombs, missiles, and other weapons – are likely to be used in the Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen which has so far accounted for 67 percent of fatalities in the country, including several thousand civilians.
The arms sales were carried out in the six-months following Kashoggi’s death, after the UK government had “strongly condemned” the murder, instigated by Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman.
Furthermore, last month the UK Court of Appeals deemed it was unlawful for the government to proceed with arms sales to Saudi-led forces, as UK arms companies are essentially profiting from one of the worst ongoing humanitarian crises in the world. The ruling also accused several ministers of ignoring the fact that many airstrikes conducted broke humanitarian law by murdering civilians.
Weapons coming from the UK have played a major role in the Saudi-led onslaught in Yemen. Although the British government condemned the murder of Kashoggi, it has been complicit as British companies have continued to conduct “business as usual” with Saudi Arabia.
The European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights condemns the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia and calls on the members states of the European Union to suspend arms sales to the kingdom in line with the examples of Germany, Denmark, and Finland.