The Independent: UK Admits It was Wrong Saying KSA not Committing War Crimes against Civilians

Local Editor

British Ministers quietly issued reams of corrections to previous ministerial statements in which they claimed that Saudi Arabia is not targeting civilians or committing war crimes.

The autocratic petro-state is currently engaged in a bombing campaign in Yemen where it has blown up hospitals, schools, and weddings as part of its intervention against Ansarullah revolutionaries.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, said that "carnage" caused by certain Saudi coalition airstrikes against civilian targets appear to be war crimes.

Britain has been a staunch defender of the dictatorship's assault, with UK arms companies supplying billions in weapons and ministers staking their reputation on the conduct of the Saudi Arabian armed forces.

However as MPs went back to their constituencies for recess on Thursday the Foreign Office admitted six ministerial statements from the past year "did not fully reflect" the real situation.

In many cases ministers had denied war crimes were being committed - statements the FCO now believes went too far. Instead, ministers were meant to only say that they had not actively confirmed that war crimes were being committed.

The UK has repeatedly refused calls from the European Parliament and House of Commons international development committee to stop selling weapons to Saudi Arabia.

Official figures reported by The Independent in January this year show sales of British bombs and missiles to the country increased 100 times in the three-month period since the start of the attacks on Yemen. The sales jumped from £9m in the previous three months to £1bn.

Last week The Independent reported that the UK government had refused to rule out re-electing Saudi Arabia to a key UN human rights council.

Source: The Independent, Edited by website team