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Saudi Arabia has ‘whitewashed significant civilian harm’ in its war on Yemen, investigators warn

SAUDI ARABIA has “whitewashed significant civilian harm” from its brutal war on Yemen, investigators have warned the British government in a devastating new dossier.

Yemeni human rights group Mwatana and a team of international lawyers submitted the evidence to Whitehall today, complete with eyewitness testimony and photos from blast sites.

The 288-page report details the extent of bombing by Britain’s major ally in the region and will add to pressure on International Trade Secretary Liz Truss to impose an arms embargo.

It also says that the Gulf state continues to commit war crimes in Yemen and is failing to investigate the atrocities.

In June appeal court judges ruled that the government must review its decision to allow weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

Whitehall officials have relied heavily on the Saudi-led coalition’s own assessment of its air strikes in Yemen which have minimised concerns around civilian casualties.

The controversial reports were compiled by the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT), which critics say lacks independence since it is run by the Saudi-led coalition.

Human rights activists now claim to have gathered evidence of “multiple air strikes which the coalition denies all responsibility for — claims that are directly contradicted by witness and photographic evidence.”

Last month the JIAT announced that the coalition was not responsible for an aerial attack on a funeral in 2016 which killed 23 civilians, including a two-year-old girl.

This was despite the coalition controlling Yemen’s airspace and debris from an air-to-surface munition being found at the blast site.

Dr Gearoid O Cuinn, director of the Global Legal Action Network which submitted the dossier, said: “This evidence will assist the UK government in deciding whether to grant further arms sales licences for Saudi Arabia.

“They can either continue to rely on discredited Saudi/UAE-led coalition assurances, or listen to those who have painstakingly documented the constant civilian deaths caused by coalition air strikes.

“Multiple European states have already suspended arms sales and now the case for the UK doing the same could not be stronger.”

Mwatana chairwoman Radhya Al-Mutawakel said: “The Saudi/UAE-led coalition is decimating Yemen, with indiscriminate and disproportionate air strikes destroying the country’s infrastructure without regard for civilians.

“The UK should have stopped selling weapons to the Saudi/UAE-led coalition a long time ago.

“We hope this evidence helps them finally make the right decision, and to start seriously pushing for peace.”

Campaign Against Arms Trade spokesman Andrew Smith welcomed the dossier, telling the Morning Star: “This is a very important report which totally undermines the British government’s claims that the Saudi regime is best placed to lead investigations into itself for war crimes.

“Over the last four-and-a-half years Saudi forces have dropped thousands of bombs on Yemen, which have had a devastating impact.

“This terrible war has only been possible because of the complicity and support of arms-dealing governments like the UK’s.”

He said: “The Saudi dictatorship has a long-standing and proven contempt for human rights — evident in its decades of appalling abuses against Saudi people and the humanitarian crisis it has inflicted on Yemen.

“The UK government must end the uncritical political and military support which it has given the regime.”

The Department for International Trade was approached for comment.

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