diary of campaigners against the arms trade
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Quaker activist Sam Walton and Rev Daniel Woodhouse have pled ‘Not Guilty’ to criminal damage at their pre-trial hearing, and called for further action to Stop Arming Saudi. Sam Walton reports. Back in January we broke into BAE System’s Warton Airbase to try and disarm warplanes they are selling to the Saudis. The Saudi are using those planes in their bombing campaign that is devastating Yemen. We had to take action to prevent crimes against humanity. CAAT joined the author and activist Ensaf Haidar, wife of imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, outside the Saudi Arabian embassy to call for his immediate release. Lucie Kinchin reports.
 Brian Larkin and members of the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre hand the petition to divest from arms manufacture to Cllr Chas Booth, Convener of Edinburgh Council’s petitions committee. Campaigners in Edinburgh are calling for their council to end its investment in arms companies. Yesterday our friends at Edinburgh CAAT and the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre presented a 400 strong petition to Councillor Chas Booth, the Convener of Edinburgh Council’s petitions committee. Journalists within Saudi often face persecution, but two Saudi nationals based in the UK have started a new media channel with the aim of “building bridges between the people of Arabia and the people around the world”. Their first post to inaugurate the channel is a report on a recent meeting on arms sales to Saudi in Bolton. You can watch their video report of the event below, and follow them on twitter @Mngro_com. Andrea Needham writes: On 29 January 1996, I was one of a group of women who disarmed a Hawk warplane at BAE’s Warton factory in Lancashire. The plane was destined for Indonesia, where it would be used in the ongoing occupation and genocide in East Timor. Exactly 21 years later, and now in the era of social media, I was idly perusing Facebook on a Sunday morning when I saw that two men had broken into the very same factory, with the intention of disarming warplanes being sold by BAE to Saudi Arabia, for use in their crimes against humanity in Yemen.
Activists released on bail after attempt to disarm BAE fighter jets bound for Saudi Arabia. Daniel Woodhouse, a Methodist minister from Leeds, and Quaker activist Sam Walton have been released on bail pending charges after breaking into BAE’s Warton site. The pair were arrested at BAE Systems’ airbase in Warton, Lancashire, in the early hours of Sunday 29 January after entering BAE Systems’ Warton site in order to disarm warplanes bound for Saudi Arabia.
The aircraft are part of a multi-billion pound deal between BAE Systems and the Saudi regime, and were due to be shipped to Saudi Arabia within weeks. Their action came as a panel of UN experts warned that the devastating Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, which have caused a humanitarian catastrophe, may be part of “a broader policy of attrition against civilian infrastructure” which may “amount to war crimes.” Amy Clark-Bryan writes about the upcoming protest against the Science Museum.
For the second time the Science Museum will be hosting the official Farnborough International reception. The last time the Science Museum hosted the reception for the arms fair in 2014 it was met with activists with one clear message – arms dealers out! This Thursday Campaign Against Arms Trade will be in the High Court challenging the Government’s decision to keep arming Saudi Arabia.
The hearing will determine if a judicial review will be granted to consider whether UK arms sales to Saudi are in violation of domestic and European arms export law. Amy Clark-Bryan was among 30 activists who challenged BAE Systems at its AGM earlier this month. Last Friday activists in Belgium shut down an arms factory with a thirteen hour rooftop occupation. The Advionics arms company in Oostkamps is producing components that are being used in the Saudi Eurofighter Typhoon jets. |
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Campaign Against Arms Trade, Unit 4, 5-7 Wells Terrace, London, N4 3JU
Tel: +44 20 7281 0297
Email: enquiries(at)caat*org*uk
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Campaign Against Arms Trade
