Ruling prompts government to suspend new arms sales to Saudi Arabia while it urgently reviews its processesBritish arms sales to Saudi Arabia have been declared unlawful by the court of appeal because ministers failed to properly assess their contribution to civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing in Yemen. The appeal court judges had been asked by Campaign Against Arms Trade whether the UK’s sales of arms to Saudi Arabia for use in the Yemeni civil war was in breach of its own international humanitarian law guidance. Labour called for a full parliamentary or public inquiry into arms sales to the Gulf kingdom. Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade called on ministers to halt the arms sales immediately. The Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, speaking in London, said: “The only people that will benefit from the ending of arms sales to Saudi Arabia will be ‘the death to America’ crowd.”

Source: The Guardian June 20, 2019 09:13 UTC