100 signatures reached
To: David Cameron
Stop UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia and denounce the execution of peaceful activists.
End UK political and military support for Saudi Arabia, and stop acting as the regime's apologists while they carry out war crimes in Yemen and human rights abuses at home.
Why is this important?
It is imperative that the UK Government introduce respect for human rights and international law to UK Foreign Policy and safeguard national security by ending support for a regime which:
i) exports a violent and intolerant ideology across the globe.
ii) executes peaceful activists including those who were children at the time of their "crime".
iii) is accused in a UN report of “widespread and systematic” attacks on civilian targets in violation of international humanitarian law in Yemen.
By defending mass Saudi executions the Foreign Minister, Philip Hammond MP and the UK Government are damaging what little reputation remains of Britain as a country which values freedom of speech, democracy, human rights, the right of assembly and peaceful protest.
UK Government policy does not represent British values but those of the brutal Saudi regime. As an apologist for Saudi Arabia's execution of peaceful protestors, Hammond is working in the interest, not of the British people but of the despotic Saudi monarchy.
As David Mepham, the UK director of Human Rights Watch points out: "1. Phillip Hammond is an apologist for the death penalty. 2. Phillip Hammond believes that execution by beheading for political protests is an acceptable form of punishment. 3. It doesn’t matter how low Saudi Arabia sinks in order to stifle protests against their barbaric regime, Phillip Hammond will seemingly refuse to condemn their actions – even if their actions are relative to those of Daesh (ISIS)."*
The UK Government has long prioritised arms sales and securing oil supplies above human rights and democracy, but the hypocrisy of condemning ISIS's horrific beheadings whilst defending Saudi Arabia's makes a mockery of the UK's claim to be a champion of "the free world".
*http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-executions-philip-hammond-condemned-by-rights-campaigners-for-excusing-mass-killings-a6802641.html
i) exports a violent and intolerant ideology across the globe.
ii) executes peaceful activists including those who were children at the time of their "crime".
iii) is accused in a UN report of “widespread and systematic” attacks on civilian targets in violation of international humanitarian law in Yemen.
By defending mass Saudi executions the Foreign Minister, Philip Hammond MP and the UK Government are damaging what little reputation remains of Britain as a country which values freedom of speech, democracy, human rights, the right of assembly and peaceful protest.
UK Government policy does not represent British values but those of the brutal Saudi regime. As an apologist for Saudi Arabia's execution of peaceful protestors, Hammond is working in the interest, not of the British people but of the despotic Saudi monarchy.
As David Mepham, the UK director of Human Rights Watch points out: "1. Phillip Hammond is an apologist for the death penalty. 2. Phillip Hammond believes that execution by beheading for political protests is an acceptable form of punishment. 3. It doesn’t matter how low Saudi Arabia sinks in order to stifle protests against their barbaric regime, Phillip Hammond will seemingly refuse to condemn their actions – even if their actions are relative to those of Daesh (ISIS)."*
The UK Government has long prioritised arms sales and securing oil supplies above human rights and democracy, but the hypocrisy of condemning ISIS's horrific beheadings whilst defending Saudi Arabia's makes a mockery of the UK's claim to be a champion of "the free world".
*http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-executions-philip-hammond-condemned-by-rights-campaigners-for-excusing-mass-killings-a6802641.html
