Saudi Arabia - Our support for the regime of Terror

President Trump campaigned on a platform of being tough on Islamism. How ironic then, that he has just agreed to sell $350 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia over the next decade. When Trump was elected I, along with many others, was extremely concerned about his rhetoric about Islam and Muslims worldwide. His desire to ban and badge Muslims certainly got liberals fired up. However, one silver lining of this discriminatory policy would be that he would significantly cool relations with the Saudis. Unfortunately, the opposite seems to have occurred.

Saudi Arabia should by rights be one of the countries we should seek to trade with as little as possible. They have committed atrocities in the impoverished nation of Yemen. For example brutally targeting civilian areas, and even deliberately striking a funeral hall in Yemen, murdering 140 innocent civilians who were paying their respects. The sort of behaviour that caused Russia to receive international sanctions.

Theresa May though stands fully behind the regime.

Britain has sold £3bn worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the start of the Yemen conflict. UN experts have said repeatedly that the Saudis are committing war crimes in the region and shamefully said that selling weapons to the Saudis helped to keep, ‘people on the streets of Britain safe.’ They claimed this even though the Saudis provide arms and funds to several jihadist groups in Syria and Yemen, including the Army of Conquest in Syria, better known as Al-Nusra. They have also come under pressure for making donations to ISIS in 2014. It is absolutely farcical for anyone to claim that selling arms to the Saudis has any other motive than money and providing such a regime with weapons is morally wrong.

There is one man in British politics who will stand up to this barbaric regime, you guessed it, Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn has called for an immediate halt on arms sales to Saudi Arabia. He said, ‘The Saudi-led coalition bombing in Yemen, backed by the British government, has left thousands dead, 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and three million refugees uprooted from their homes.’ For once there is a leader in this country who will put human lives over corporate profits.

Selling arms to countries which will use them for war crimes is, in Corbyn’s words, contributing to a ‘humanitarian catastrophe.’ The Liberal Democrats, the Greens and even Nigel Farage have strongly condemned May’s position on this issue and her close relationship with the Saudis.

The other crucial issue with Saudi Arabia is their appalling human rights record. It’s record on women’s rights and homosexuality is appalling. Women only gained the vote in 2015 and still are unable to drive. Homosexuality still carries the death penalty. The Saudis have a medieval approach to justice, punishments are reminiscent of where Europe was in the Middle Ages. They only made domestic abuse a crime in August 2013. Stoning to death is still used as a punishment for homosexuality and adultery, which can even apply to when a woman has been raped. Blasphemy also carries the death penalty.

Fortunately for Theresa May and Donald Trump, very few care enough about the issue of Saudi Arabia to apply the necessary pressure in order to change policy on this issue. Appeals to sanity made by Chris White, Chair of the Arms export committee, were met with little care. It’s clear that without international law forcing them the Tories will not change their policy.

Unlike the people of Saudi Arabia, we are fortunate enough to live in a liberal democracy where we can influence this. Raising awareness, contacting your MP and voting for parties who not support such weapons sales is the way to change our nations involvement. Which will save lives.

#SaudiArabia #Conservativeparty #LabourParty #2017GeneralElection #InternationalPolitics #Republicans