Saudi Arabia

The limits of Labour’s multilateralism

There has been some recent media attention on Jeremy Corbyn’s alleged past links to the IRA and the claim that he is a “pacifist” — meaning, he is opposed to any and every kind of military intervention, even around “humanitarian” issues. Corbyn does have a record of support for the Republican movement in Ireland (that is, not the IRA as such, but the nationalists fighting for a united Ireland), and he was long involved with the Stop the War Coalition, which did indeed oppose — sometimes, in Workers’ Liberty’s view, with terrible arguments — the major military interventions involving Britain...

Right-wing Labour MPs show their stripes

According to right-wing Labour MP John Woodcock, “the support we [the UK] are giving [to Saudi Arabia, over the war in Yemen] is largely to help train pilots in targeting practices that reduce civilian casualties, trying to influence the Saudis into unambiguous compliance with humanitarian law”. And so Woodcock and about 100 Labour MPs abstained or were absent on 18 October when the Labour front bench moved that Britain stop supporting Saudi Arabia in the war. The UN estimates that over 7,000 people have now been killed in the conflict, two-thirds in Saudi airstrikes. The Saudi military...

UK should stop supporting Saudi war on Yemen!

Following a Saudi attack on mourners attending a funeral in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, the US has reviewed its policy of support for the Saudi war. 140 died in the bombing raid on Saturday 8 October, with over 500 injured. The attack was a so-called “double tap”, with a second strike timed to kill rescuers moving to the scene to help the wounded. The “double tap” is the type of raid that the US and UK have called a “war crime” when carried out by Russia in Aleppo. The UN estimates that over 7,000 people have now been killed in the conflict — two thirds in Saudi airstrikes. Saudi airpower has also...

Stop arming Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Defence figures show the UK defence industries are ahead of those of Russia, France, Germany and Israel in the arms exporter table, lagging behind (by some distance) only the USA.Over 60% of UK arms sales go to the Middle East, 16% go to North America, 13% to Asia Pacific and 8% to Europe. The UK trades with 39 of the 51 governments outlawed by Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Report, including 22 countries that are on the UK’s own human rights watch list! UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the Government’s agency in charge of promoting British business abroad, has championed the UK...

Abolish the death penalty!

Saudi Arabia has executed 99 people during 2016, more than at the same point last year. Crimes punishable by beheading, stoning or firing squad in Saudi include blasphemy, drug offences, adultery, murder, and “false prophecy.” Excluding China – whose regime keeps the number of state killings a close secret – 90% of known executions during 2015 were carried out by Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Iran executes more people than any other state. Last year Iran killed nearly one thousand prisoners, many for drug-related convictions. Iran also executes juvenile prisoners. In the US 28 prisoners...

No arms to Saudi Arabia

Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia has been fighting a vicious bombing campaign and imposing a blockade of Yemen in defence of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who Saudi Arabia wants to retain Yemen’s Presidency. Hadi and the Saudis are backed by the West. British arms manufacturers have sold planes and bombs to the Saudis which are being used during the current campaign. The Campaign Against the Arms Trade is conducting a legal battle in the British courts attempting to stop weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. In July the High Court agreed to allow CAAT to take the government’s policy — to continue arming the...

Stop the Saudis' bloody war in Yemen!

The squalid Saudi-led — and Western-backed — war on Yemen continues. The Saudis are attempting to impose their own man — Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi — on the country. Hadi has little support in Yemen and is currently in exile in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis face a movement led by Houthi militias. The Houthi are a minority strand of Shia Islam, whose heartland is in north Yemen. The Houthis have support from forces loyal to former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Saudis fear that the Houthis are instruments of Shia Iran. Around 3,000 civilians have died since the Saudis started bombing in March 2015...

“We are Raif” campaign for Saudi human rights

For many decades the relationship between the Saudi Wahhabist dictatorship and the arms, oil and other companies in Britain has been ignored by the media. Despite Bin Laden’s wealthy Saudi family background. Despite the majority of the 9/11 bombers being Saudi. Despite the Saudi Arabia’s brutal treatment of women and migrant workers. Despite Saudi having been second only to Iran in numbers of executions per head of population (this year it’s likely to overtake Iran). Despite too, having a legal system run by religious reactionaries who execute people for being gay, an atheist, for fighting...

Free Raif Badawi!

On 7 June the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia upheld the increased sentence made on Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi. Raif was charged with “setting up a website that undermines general security”, “ridiculing Islamic religious figures”, and “going beyond the realm of obedience” in December 2012 — a victim of the reaction across the region to the Arab Spring. In July 2013 he was sentenced and in May 2014 his sentence was increased to 10 years imprisonment and a 1,000 lashes to be delivered over 20 weekly sessions of 50 lashes each. An international campaign rapidly grew demanding that the floggings be...

Saudi war crimes in Yemen

The anti-democratic and sectarian bigots who run Saudi Arabia are engaged in a war on Yemen that — given its careless, arrogant, brutal attitude towards Yemen’s civilian population — amounts to a war crime. The Saudis have been bombing Yemen since 25 March, the day the Saudi-backed President, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, fled the country. Hadi left quickly as a renewed offensive by an alliance of Houthi fighters from north Yemen and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh overran government held towns and military units. There is no central state and there are now multiple battle fronts...

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