Labour MP says sale of surveillance tools ‘makes UK complicit in deaths of thousands of Filipinos’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The British government sold £150,000 of hi-tech spying equipment to the Philippines, giving President Rodrigo Duterte the tools to hunt down and kill dealers and addicts as part of his brutal war on drugs.

ICC launches crimes against humanity inquiry into Duterte's war on drugs Read more

The equipment purchased by Duterte’s government included IMSI-Catchers, which are used to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, and surveillance tools to monitor internet activity.

Duterte has admitted authorising the wiretapping of at least two mayors whom he accused of being “narcopoliticians”, including the Ozamiz city mayor, Reynaldo Parojinog.

Parojinog and 14 other people were killed in a police raid on his home last July.

The British Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a member of the committees on arms export controls, accused the UK government of enabling Duterte’s violent hunt, “which makes us complicit in the deaths of thousands of Filipinos”.

He added: “This sad case shows that our arms export control regime is broken. The government is failing in its basic legal duty.”

The exports to the Philippines appear to be a violation of UK law, which states that the government must not “issue an export licence if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression”.

The UK government has also sold spyware to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain and Egypt.

By July 2016, when the kit was sold, Duterte had already made several brazen statements about his intention to use all means necessary to brutally crack down on anyone associated with drugs.

Speaking at his final campaign rally in April 2016, he said: “Forget the laws on human rights. If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out.

Thousands dead: the Philippine president, the death squad allegations and a brutal drugs war Read more

“Because I’d kill you, I’ll dump all of you into Manila Bay, and fatten all the fish there.”

By June 2016 human rights watchdogs had already expressed alarm that his anti-crime drive might lead to widespread rights violations, following comments by Duterte that “these sons of whores are destroying our children. I warn you, don’t go into that … because I will really kill you.”

The UK department for international trade said the “government takes its export responsibilities very seriously”.

“All export licence applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and we will not license the export of items, where there is a clear risk that the goods may be used for internal repression.”

Since Duterte became president, at least 12,000 people have died as part of the war on drugs, with many of the killings carried out by police officers.

The revelation that Britain was supplying Duterte with spying equipment comes just weeks after the international criminal court (ICC) announced it was looking into evidence that the president had committed crimes against humanity.