Lawyers for Campaign Against Arms Trade will argue in the court of appeal that UK exports breach international law

The sale of billions of pounds worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia hangs in the balance this weekend ahead of a landmark court case that could force the UK to halt exports of missiles, bombs and jets to the kingdom.

Human rights groups say the sale of arms to Saudi breaches UK export policy, which states that the government must deny such licences if there is a “clear risk” that weapons “might” be used in “a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

“These arms sales are not just immoral – they are also illegal,” said Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade, which is bringing this week’s case. It is attempting to overturn a 2017 high court ruling that permitted the continued export of arms to the kingdom. “[This] case could set a vital precedent and end UK complicity in the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world.”

Evidence from international organisations including a UN panel and the European parliament shows civilian targets in Yemen have regularly been hit during the Saudi-led coalition’s bombing campaign. According to figures from the Yemen Data Project, there have been 19,416 air raids on the country since 2015. In February, the most recent figures available, 38% targeted non-military sites.

The UK court case comes amid the continued fallout from the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was tortured and assassinated by Saudi agents. And last week it was revealed that the Saudi authorities had detained eight people over their links to women’s rights activists. Those arrested are said to include writers and a pregnant woman.

The action in the court of appeal, and Saudi attitudes to human rights, threatens the profitability of Britain’s largest defence company, BAE Systems: the kingdom is its biggest market outside of the US. In March last year a memorandum of intent was signed between the UK government and Saudi, aimed at finalising the sale of 48 Typhoon aircraft made by a consortium that includes BAE.

However, the small print of BAE’s annual report, released last week, reveals that “the prevailing geopolitical climate has created an unavoidable delay in translating the March 2018 memorandum of intent between the UK government and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia”. The same report notes that the court case “could have a material adverse effect on the group’s future results”.

Government minutes show that BAE representatives met the international business secretary, Liam Fox, on 29 October last year – four weeks after Khashoggi was killed – “to discuss the UK government response to the killing of Khashoggi and BAE-Saudi interests”. The meeting came a week after Germany announced that it was suspending arms sales to Saudi and four days after the European parliament voted to support a ban.

“Arms dealers are the last people government ministers should be discussing policies and interests with,” said Smith. “BAE’s solution will always be the same: it wants to sell more weapons, regardless of the atrocities they are enabling. Wherever there is war and conflict, there will always be companies like BAE trying to profiteer from it.”

Other companies are taking a close interest in the court of appeal case, which is backed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Rights Watch (UK) and Oxfam. The UK has licensed £5bn of arms to Saudi forces since the bombing of Yemen began in March 2015. Among the arms exported are Paveway IV bombs, made by Raytheon in Scotland, and missiles manufactured by MBDA, which is part-owned by BAE.

“There is strong global concern over the actions of Saudi-led forces in Yemen,” said Rosa Curling of Leigh Day, the law firm bringing the case on behalf of Campaign Against Arms Trade. “The UN, the European parliament, select committees and many NGOs have raised concerns about the clear violations of international humanitarian law taking place against the Yemeni people. Despite this, the UK government continues to grant licences to allow arms to be sold to Saudi Arabia. Our client firmly believes that these licences are being issued unlawfully and we look forward to putting forward their arguments in the court of appeal.”

A spokesperson for the Department for International Trade said: “The government takes its export responsibilities very seriously. We operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and keep our defence exports to Saudi Arabia under careful and continual review.

“All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application.

“We will not a grant a licence if to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria.”



