LONDON: Campaigners who want to stop Britain from selling arms to Saudi Arabia as it could potentially use them in the deadly conflict in Yemen can appeal after losing their case at the High Court last year, a British court ruled on Friday.
Last July, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) sought a High Court order to block export licenses for British-made fighter jets, bombs and other munitions, which it said were being used by the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen’s civil war.
But the High Court found that the granting of license for arms exports from the UK to Saudi Arabia was not unlawful.
The case will now be heard by the Court of Appeal in the coming months.
Andrew Smith of CAAT said his group believed the sales were immoral.
“The Saudi-led bombardment of Yemen has killed thousands of people and created one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world,” he said in a statement after Friday’s judgment.
“Despite this, the Saudi regime has been armed and supported every step of the way by successive UK governments. We believe that these arms sales are immoral, and are confident that the Court of Appeal will agree that they are unlawful.”
More than 10,000 people have died since Saudi Arabia’s Western-backed alliance began its campaign to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government, launching thousands of air strikes to defeat the armed Houthi movement, which controls the area and much of northern Yemen.
Errant strikes have killed hundreds of civilians at hospitals, schools and markets. Two weeks ago, air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 20 people attending a wedding in a village in northwestern Yemen.
The United Nations says food shortages caused by the warring parties blocking supplies has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The conflict has displaced more than 2 million people and triggered a cholera epidemic that has infected about 1 million people.
UK exports to Saudi Arabia have provided billions of pounds of revenue for the British arms trade, but opposition has grown as the conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis in Yemen worsened.
Prime Minister Theresa May has defended British arms exports to Saudi Arabia, saying all such sales were strictly regulated, that Saudi involvement in the Yemen conflict was backed by the U.N. Security Council and her government supported it.
The issue has provoked heated debate in parliament, with the main opposition Labour party saying arms export license should be suspended and that Britain must be held partly responsible for civilian casualties in Yemen.
“It cannot be right that the government is colluding in what the United Nations says is evidence of war crimes,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told parliament in March.