Corbyn: Johnson Should Back Labor over Saudis Arms

Local Editor

Boris Johnson should be "brave enough" to back calls to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia after his comments about "proxy wars", Jeremy Corbyn will say.

In a speech on Saturday, the Labor leader will accuse UK Prime Minister Theresa May of sacrificing "human rights on the altar of the arms trade".

The foreign secretary was rebuked by Downing Street after it emerged he had accused Saudi Arabia of "puppeteering".

Johnson did not refer to this when giving a speech in Bahrain on Friday.

His thoughts on Saudi Arabia, the UK's closest ally in the Middle East, were made at a conference in Italy last week but only emerged after The Guardian newspaper published footage of the event.

He said there were politicians in the region who were "twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives".

He said, "the tragedy for me - and that's why you have these proxy wars being fought the whole time in that area - is that there is not strong enough leadership in the countries themselves".

Labor leader Corbyn, who has been highly critical of Saudi Arabia's human rights record, said Prime Minister Theresa May should have said more about the matter during her recent visit to the Gulf - where she attended a six-nation summit.

Corbyn accused Saudi Arabia of "committing what have all the hallmarks of crimes against humanity in its war in Yemen".

"This week, the Prime Minister chose to travel to the Gulf to hold talks on security and negotiate arms sales to the dictatorial regimes of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain," he said.

Corbyn went on to say: "Both countries are known for their abysmal human rights records: shutting down newspapers and TV stations that criticize the Government; using torture in response to protests...; and crushing the rights of women."

"Saudi-led coalition bombing backed by the British government and UK military advisers has left thousands dead, 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and three million refugees uprooted from their homes.

"This week in Bahrain, we have seen the Prime Minister sacrifice human rights on the altar of the arms trade."
Johnson is now on the first leg of a tour of the Middle East.

Speaking on Friday at the Institute for Strategic Studies Manama Dialogue, Johnson did not refer to his Rome speech, but did bring up the conflict Saudi Arabia is involved in within Yemen.

Johnson said: "But I must also share my profound concerns, which I'm sure is universal in this room, about the present suffering of the people of Yemen."

"I think we can all agree on this key point, that force alone will not bring about a stable Yemen, and that's why we in London have been working so hard with all our partners to drive that political process forwards," he added.

For its part, Amnesty International UK's Head of Policy and Government Affairs Allan Hogarth said Johnson should "start telling the Saudi Arabia some home truths about its appalling human rights record.

"When he visits Saudi Arabia this weekend, Mr Johnson should politely inform his hosts that the UK is suspending arms sales to the country because of the risk that the weapons will be used to commit breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen," he said.

"Mr Johnson should also call for sentences against the 15 men condemned to death this week to be quashed, and for prisoners of conscience like the blogger Raif Badawi to be released," Hogarth added.

The AI head further said: "The problem with the UK-Saudi relationship isn't that one speech from a foreign secretary has risked ‘upsetting' the Saudis - it's that the UK continually sidelines human rights issues for fear of offending the Saudi royals."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team