Germany’s KMW to sell Leopard 2 tanks to Qatar

German arms manufacturer Kraus-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) has just closed a billion dollar deal with Qatar under which the tiny Persian Gulf state will buy modern tanks and weapons from Europe’s largest economy.

On April 18, the Munich-based company announced that it closed a contract to deliver 62 Leopard 2 battle tanks and 24 Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers to the Arab country.

A defense source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that KMW beat out a French competitor that was also bidding for the contract, Deutsche Welle reported on Monday.

However, opposition parties in Germany have heavily criticized the arms deal with Qatar, noting that the country has an autocratic government which does not respect human rights.

“With very few exceptions, there is no freedom of expression. The emir and his family, as well as Qatar’s government, remain off-limits. Qatar might not be a visible police state, but there are always secret observers watching you,” Qatar expert and political scientist Hamadi El-Aouni of the University of Berlin said.

Political scientist and Middle East expert Werner Ruf said, “The way they (Qataris) reacted to the uprising in Bahrain definitely gave them away.”

He added, “While Al Jazeera praised the Arab Spring movement, the government sent tanks to Bahrain to support Saudi Arabia’s course of action: smothering the Bahrain uprising in blood.”

Ruf also called Germany’s actions hypocritical, stating that it has simply closed its eyes to the systematic human rights violations in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He also censured German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle for legitimizing authoritarian Persian Gulf rulers.

Last July, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported that Qatar wanted to buy up to 200 Leopard tanks with a potential value of up to 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion).