The UK must halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia to send Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a message regarding his government's likely involvement in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Riyadh's war crimes in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said in a press release on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) The UK must halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia to send Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a message regarding his government's likely involvement in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Riyadh's war crimes in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said in a press release on Tuesday.
"This week, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt joined his French and German counterparts in expressing 'grave concern' over Saudi Arabia's likely role in Khashoggi's disappearance," the release said. "Yet he failed to say anything about revisiting the UK's wider relationship with Saudi Arabia. Which begs the question, when will the UK finally send the critical message to bin Salman and stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia?"
The UK has sold at least $6 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia since the Yemen conflict began in 2015, the release said.
The abusive bent of the government under bin Salman at home, and in its neighbor Yemen, was clear long before the Washington Post columnist was "possibly murdered" at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, the release added.
The release blamed bin Salman for a crackdown on critics at home and a military campaign in Yemen that threatens millions with starvation - policies that belie the crown prince's attempts to cultivate an image as a reformer, according to the release.
Over the weekend, media reported that the UK Foreign Office had been drawing up a list of Saudi security and government officials to sanction pending the results of the probe into the journalist's disappearance. Khashoggi has been missing since October 2 when he visited the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain documents needed for his upcoming marriage. Turkish authorities said they have audio and video recordings that prove the journalist was tortured and then murdered inside the consulate.
