The Coalition has approved the sale of £16m of crowd-control and anti-riot equipment, including tear gas and rubber bullets, to countries whose regimes are on its own human-rights blacklist, The Independent can reveal.

Figures detailing the export of material implicated in the quelling of internal dissent in locations from Egypt to Hong Kong are made public ahead of a Home Office-organised business fair held behind closed doors this week which will showcase British arms and security companies to dozens of foreign governments.

The three-day, Security & Policing Event, which is closed to the public and press, is billed by the Home Office as a unique opportunity for manufacturers to market products “which would be too sensitive to show in a more-open environment”.

Among the items being displayed to delegations from governments likely to include Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Egypt are sniper rifles, computer and phone-hacking tools and a crowd-control sonic “projector” described by its manufacturer as “extremely unpleasant” at ranges of 20 metres or less.

Tear gas use across the world Show all 12 1 /12 Tear gas use across the world Tear gas use across the world US 13 August, 2014: An Al Jazeera television crew, covering demonstrators protesting the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown, scramble for cover as police fire tear gas into their reporting position on in Ferguson, Missouri. Scott Olson/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world US 17 August, 2014: A woman has her face doused with milk after suffering the effects of tear gas used by police at a protest of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Getty Images Tear gas use across the world Israel 8 August, 2014: Israeli border guards fire tear gas grenades towards Palestinian protesters following a demonstration in support of Gaza after Friday prayers at the Hawara checkpoint, east of the West Bank city of Nablus. MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world Israel 28 July, 2014: A Palestinian protester holding his national flag stands amid smoke after tear gas was fired by Israeli security forces during clashes in the West Bank village of Bilin, following a demonstration in support of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world Brazil 12 June, 2014: A demonstrator kicks a tear gas grenade during an anti-World Cup protest, on the morning the Brazilian mega-city hosts the tournament's opening match, in Sao Paulo on. Police fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to break up dozens of protesters gathering near a Sao Paulo. Miguel Schincariol/AFP/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world Egypt 3 February, 2012: A man sprayed a milky liquid in the eyes of a protester suffering from the effects of tear gas inhalation during clashes between protesters and riot police near the interior ministry February 3, 2012 in Cairo, Egypt. The protest followed the deaths of 74 football fans who were killed in clashes between rival fans following the match between al-Masry and al-Alhy in Port Said, Egypt. Carsten Koall/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world Italy 15 October, 2011: A protester throws back a teargas to Policemen during a demonstration in Rome on Protesters set fire to a government building, torched cars and smashed bank windows in Rome in the worst violence of worldwide demonstrations against corporate greed and government cutbacks. FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world France June 10, 2003: A teacher suffers of heavy teargas used by police to disperse crowd after a demonstration against pension reform plan at the Concorde square in Paris. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world South Korea 10 April 1994: Reformist Buddhist monks, masked in case of tear gas, form a skirmish line in Seoul to protect other monks as they scale ladders in an attempt to occupy the secretariat building of the Chogye Temple Some 2,000 riot police later dislodged the reformists who were trying to oust a senior monk they accuse of corruption. CHOO YOUN-KONG/AFP/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world Israel 21 December 1987: Israeli riot policemen throw teargas at Palestinian rioters in north Jerusalem, declared as 'Peace day', in support of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Hundreds of Palestinian protesters demonstrated in support of victims shot dead during demonstrations in the occupied territories since the beginning of December 1987. MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world India 10th August 1942: Demonstrators lying on the ground to avoid clouds of tear gas released by the police when they refused to disperse after protesting against the arrest of Gandhi and other National Congress leaders. Keystone/Getty Images Tear gas use across the world Ohio 5th August 1939: Tear gas being used against striking automobile workers in Cleveland, Ohio. Fox Photos/Getty Images

Campaigners said the figures showing Britain’s vigorous trade in crowd-control and anti-riot materials with countries where internal repression has been widely documented showed the Government is putting commercial interests ahead of its human-rights obligations and running the risk of failing to abide by its own export rules.

Since the Coalition came to power in 2010, export licences for at least £15.9m of crowd-control goods from riot shields to “irritant ammunition” to more than 100 countries have been approved by Vince Cable’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). They include £10m of tear gas or anti-riot irritants, £640,000 of “crowd-control ammunition” and £3.1m of riot shields. None of the exports are unlawful and much of the material goes to established democracies and close allies from France to the US.

But crowd-control supplies have also been cleared for export to countries and territories with authoritarian regimes and questionable human-rights records including Libya, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Egypt.

Nine of the countries to receive export approvals – Afghanistan, Bahrain, Colombia, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia – feature or have featured on the Foreign Office’s human rights blacklist of “countries of concern” over the past five years.

The figures – compiled from Government data by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Caat) – show that goods worth £6.7m were cleared for shipping to the nine countries between 2010 and last September, including £2.95m of tear gas to Saudi Arabia and £2.93m of tear gas and £228,000 of “crowd-control ammunition” to Libya while Muammar Gaddafi remained in power (both licences were later revoked following the fall of the dictator).

Andrew Smith, from Caat, told The Independent: “This is a sign of a system that puts arms-company profits ahead of human rights. Weapons like tear gas have an indiscriminate effect and are synonymous with internal repression.

“The Government may have revoked the licence for tear gas to Libya, but it should never have been signed in the first place. Gaddafi was a brutal tyrant from day one, and this is a reminder that acts of oppression by his regime were carried out with British support.”

British goods are suspected to have been used in quashing internal dissent in several human-rights hotspots in recent years, including the use of tear gas in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Hong Kong.

A Hampshire-based company, Chemring, said it would be reviewing its sales policy after tear gas was used against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong last October. The Government, which cleared the export of tear gas worth £147,000 to the former colony in 2011, later insisted there was no proof that the 87 rounds used by police on demonstrators were of British origin.

A licence for tear gas to Bahrain was revoked following allegations British supplies were used against protesters while armoured, crowd-control vehicles supplied by a UK company were implicated in the crushing of protests against the Gaddafi regime during which 200 people died in 2011.

The Government has long judged its arms exports on a policy which states that a licence will not be granted when there is a “clear risk” that the exported goods “might be used to facilitate internal repression”.