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UK revoke over 150 arms licences for Arab states

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Mar 10, IRNA -- Following a review of arms sales to Arab states, the British government has so far revoked more than 150 licences to countries facing uprising, Business Minister Mark Prisk has revealed.

In a written parliamentary reply published Thursday, Prisk said that as of last week, 36 Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) for Egypt had been cancelled, while Egypt was also removed as a permitted destination from eight Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs).

In the case of Tunisia, one Siel was annulled on January 27, while the country was also removed as a permitted destination from one Oiel the following day, Prisk also announced.

The British government ordered a review of arms sales after being criticised for issuing licenses for supplying deadly crowd control ammunition and chemicals to Bahrain as well as Libya, which may have been used against protesters.

Prisk said that in the case of Libya, 62 individual and nine open licences had been revoked, and in the case of Bahrain, 23 SIELs and 16 OIELs had been invalidated.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has been seeking an immediate embargo on all arms sales to Middle East and North African country, accusing the government of double standard by supplying authoritarian regimes.

In a separate reply, the business minister also disclosed Bahrain sent official delegations to three major UK defence and security exhibitions in the past three years and Libya and Egypt one each, as well as all being involved in a variety of defence demonstrations, trainings and conferences.

The British government insists that it considered arms licences on a case by case basis, but Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green has implicitly admitted that the government may have breached its own guidelines in not selling arms where they could be used for external aggression or internal suppression.

“In the light of the rapidly changing events in Libya and north Africa, we acted to revoke licences where there was a clear risk that the equipment might be used for internal repression or human rights abuses,” Green said during a debate on Arab arms sales in the House of Lords on Wednesday.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30291381