UK court tells government to ‘reconsider’ Saudi arms sales

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Andrew Smith, spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, speaks to the media outside the Royal Courts of Justice, London, after they won a landmark legal challenge

A London court has handed a partial victory to campaigners trying to halt British arms sales to Saudi Arabia over the kingdom’s bombing campaign in Yemen.

The Court of Appeal ruling does not immediately halt UK arms sales or suspend existing licenses.

But judge Terence Etherton said the UK government “must reconsider the matter” and weigh up future risks.

The government had “made no concluded assessments of whether the Saudi-led coalition had committed violations of international humanitarian law in the past, during the Yemen conflict, and made no attempt to do so,” Etherton ruled.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said she was “disappointed that the court found against the government on one ground” and would seek an appeal.

Trade minister Liam Fox was expected to make a statement in parliament later in the day.

The UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) non-profit first launched its court battle against the government in December 2015.

https://www.rte.ie/news/uk/2019/0620/1056484-uk-saudi-arabia-arms/

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