‘Britain readopts hypocrisy as usual’

The British government has made a brazen return to business as usual in exporting arms to repressive regimes in a show of clear hypocrisy.

After a brief pause in response to pressure during the Arab Spring [Islamic Awakening] in the Middle East and North Africa regions, the government has restarted licensing exports of weapons worth millions of pounds to regimes accused of repression, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, the daily The Independent reported.

The licenses were issued just months after the government ministers said they would “carefully review” licenses for countries that unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent inside their territories, the report said.

Britain has failed to learn a lesson from the conflicts in Libya and other Arab states, said Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP.

“We cannot claim to be on the side of the people while continuing to arm the authorities which violently oppress them”, she said.

The UK approved weapons for export last autumn including rifles, sniper sights, combat vehicle parts, artillery technology and gun silencers.

The revelation comes after Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Saudi Arabia last Friday was marred by questions over Britain’s continued export of arms to the kingdom, which has been accused of human rights violations.

Despite continuing unrest in Saudi Arabia, the UK has been selling the regime bomb equipment, weapons sights and components for military vehicles and helicopters, according to the report.

“Government figures posted on the web last week show that between July and September last year, when Bahrain’s riot police were clashing with protesters and security services were routinely raiding homes, licenses were granted for £2.2m-worth of UK weapons to be exported, more than £1.3m of which were for military use. In the same period, £1.5m of arms exports to Egypt were licensed by the UK, of which more than £1m were specifically for military use”, the report added.

Analysts say the British government has gone back to business as usual in the region, making Britain a leader in supplying arms to regimes that continue to quash protests with violence.

Last March, a month after the despotic regime of Mubarak was ousted, the government revoked 44 arms licenses for Egypt, but by the third quarter of last year they were allowing the passage of millions of pounds of military equipment. Many of the arms licensed for Egypt could be used directly in the oppression of protests.

These include components for military combat vehicles, weapons sights and military radars. Some licenses to Egypt were refused last year, including cryptographic software and night sights for rifles.

“The latest arms export figures make it clear the government’s withdrawal of some arms licenses in early 2011 was just for the cameras. While the government promotes arms exports to repressive regimes, it is pure hypocrisy for it to talk about supporting human rights and democracy”, said Ian Pritchard, of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.