UK pursues self-interests in Saudi arms sales: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Jalal Fairooz, a former Bahraini MP, about the British government selling record amounts of weaponry to repressive regimes identified by the UK Foreign Office as having dubious human rights records.

A rough transcription of the interview appears below.

Press TV: This is certainly a hypocritical action on behalf of London which has raised many eyebrows. How do you explain the inconsistency of London?

Fairooz: Well it seems that the British are just driven by their very limited interest of gaining some money regardless of what these deals will do to the innocent people. Just three days ago the MPs ... have criticized here in UK the arms sales to countries like Saudi Arabia. Last year there was around 62 million dollar deal of bombs being sold to Saudi Arabia including cluster bombs which by the way the US has banned because the Saudis have used cluster bombs against the Yemenis. These cluster bombs have killed lots of innocent civilians in Yemen.

Also the UK has sold military man carriers to Saudi Arabia and also to Bahrain. These armored carriers have been widely used against the Shia dissidents both in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Now there was a case in the courts of the United Kingdom by the campaign against trade organizations here in Britain that the UK has to stop the sale of these arms to countries which have been proven that they have violated the international law.

Actually [the] Saudis have been named that they have done war crimes in Yemen but still we can see all these bombs which are being shelled on the head of the civilians are being sold by the Western countries like Britain and others. Canada has limited its arms sales last year and also Brazil has limited but it remains that some countries like France and UK to look into this again.

Press TV: It seems that the manner in which Britain deals with these countries that are on its own watch list of human rights abusers comes down to the issue of political convenience. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, they get their arms exports, however they are also on the watch list of human rights abusers but they still get their arms because it is convenient and it is lucrative?

Fairooz: That is true because the UK, the politicians here [are] trying to convince the public that arms trade is part of the national income and they have to run the arms factories but on which account? Is it on the blood of the innocent people around the world?

We could see how the British arms have been also used by the Israelis to shell Gaza during the war killing the civilians. They were being used against the Lebanese. Now imagine that how much Saudis are bombarding the Yemenis and also using the live ammunition against the Shias in the Eastern Province. Why wouldn’t the UK care about all this blood which it is part of this bloodshed?

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