Weapons sold to Bahrain
Vince Cable facing legal action
Business secretary Vince Cable is facing legal action over the sale of weapons used against peaceful demonstrators in Bahrain. Armoured vehicles made in the UK were sold to Saudi Arabia and deployed when Saudi forces entered Bahrain to help the country’s regime to suppress dissent.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) alleges that the government has broken its own rules, which rule out arms exports ‘if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression’.
CAAT’s lawyers are seeking a judicial review of the decision not to revoke arms export licences for Saudi Arabia. A judicial review is a process by which a court considers whether a public body – in this case the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – has broken the law.
British ministers have revoked licences for arms exports to Bahrain itself, but CAAT argue that it is clear that arms sold to Saudi Arabia are likely to be used for internal repression.
‘The difference in the treatment of Bahrain, where licences have been revoked, and Saudi Arabia, where they have not, further undermines the government’s credibility,’ said CAAT’s Kaye Stearman.
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