A judicial review that aims to halt UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia because they could be used to illegally kill civilians in Yemen is set to begin on Tuesday.
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade will claim that the indiscriminate nature of the airstrikes by Saudi Arabia in Yemen means there is a significant risk that British arms are being used in strikes that break international humanitarian law.
Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations have faced intense scrutiny since the March 2015 start of a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, which has been accused of killing thousands of civilians and triggering a humanitarian catastrophe in one of the region’s poorest countries.
Saudi Arabia is the UK’s most important arms client: since the start of the Yemen campaign government ministers have granted export licences for more than £3.3bn of aircraft, munitions and other equipment.
Under UK and EU arms sales rules, export licences must not be granted if there is a “clear risk” that the equipment could be used to break international humanitarian law. Licensing is overseen by Liam Fox, secretary of state for international trade, in consultation with the Foreign Office, Ministry of Defence and Department for International Development.
A spokeswoman for the Department for International Trade told the Guardian: “The UK is playing a leading role in work to find a political solution to the conflict in Yemen and to address the humanitarian crisis.
“We operate one of the most robust export control regimes in the world and keep our defence exports to Saudi Arabia under careful and continual review. Given the current legal proceedings we will not be commenting further outside of court at this stage.”
The government’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia have come under sustained criticism from sources including MPs on the business and international development parliamentary select committees.
Last year the two committees recommended that weapons export licences to the country should be suspended until an independent international inquiry into allegations of breaches of international law was completed. They found the government had failed to conduct credible investigations into how British weapons were being used.
The foreign affairs select committee, which refused to sign up to the committee recommendation, published its own report saying any decision on exports to Saudi Arabia should wait until the outcome of this week’s case. But it also called for an independent UN investigation into claims Saudi Arabia has broken international humanitarian law.
The government had said it cannot investigate individual allegations, but that the Ministry of Defence monitors claims to “form an overall view on the approach and attitude of Saudi Arabia” to the laws of war, which forbids indiscriminate targeting of civilians or civilian infrastructure.
The UN estimates that at least 4,619 civilians have been killed in the two-year conflict, and 19m people have been left needing humanitarian assistance. Allegations of war crimes have been made against both sides, and last January a leaked UN report described “widespread and systematic” targeting of civilians in Saudi-led strikes, including the bombing of health facilities, schools, wedding parties and camps for internally displaced people.
In December the US called off the export of some precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia because of concerns about the country’s targeting practices.