News / Interviews

UK weapons sale to Saudi Arabia violates int.l law: Pundit

Thursday, 21 January 2016 6:40 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 24 January 2016 9:18 AM ]

Yemenis inspect the damage at a sports hall destroyed by Saudi airstrikes in the capital Sana’a on January 19, 2016. (AFP photo)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Seif Da'na, professor at University of Wisconsin in Chicago, and Michael Lane, founder of American Institute for Foreign Policy in Washington, to discuss Britain’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid months of Riyadh’s aggression against Yemen.

Da'na says the US and UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are in breach of the Arms Trades Treaty (ATT), given the fact that the Riyadh regime is committing war crimes in Yemen.

“It is not only that Saudi Arabia is accused of committing war crimes but everyone that participates in this and facilitates this because according to the arms trade agreement it is forbidden to facilitate, it is forbidden to sell arms to countries like Saudi Arabia engaged in conflicts in which civilians might be harmed whether intentionally or unintentionally,” he states.

The academic also notes the West is opposed to an international transparent investigation of Saudi Arabia’s war crimes in Yemen for “political reasons”.

He further says the West applies different set of rules when it comes to its allies - namely Saudi Arabia and Israel.

“The Western world and the super powers have two set of rules. One is applicable to the rest of the world and another one is applicable only to Saudi Arabia and Israel or the allies of the West or the countries that are actually supported by the West … That is why these countries act with impunity and continue their war crimes all the time,” he argues.

Da'na concludes that supplying ammunition to Saudi Arabia points to the “hypocrisy” on the part of the US and UK when they are calling for a political solution in Yemen.

Lane, for his part, believes the alliance between the Western powers and Saudi Arabia makes Britain as well as the United States inclined to provide the Saudi regime with the weapons it needs, adding that this is not a breach of an international law.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk