British lawyers call on Metropolitan Police to investigate senior Saudi and UAE officials for Yemen war crimes

[CEZAYIRLI]

British lawyers call on Met to investigate senior Saudi and UAE officials for Yemen war crimes

London-based Guernica 37 Chambers will file a complaint with the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service’s 'Universal Jurisdiction Unit'

inews.co.uk

British lawyers call on Metropolitan Police to investigate senior Saudi and UAE officials for Yemen war crimes​

EXCLUSIVE

London-based Guernica 37 Chambers will file a complaint with the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service’s ‘Universal Jurisdiction Unit’​

A child who was injured in a deadly Saudi-led coalition airstrike rests in a hospital in Saada, Yemen in 2018 (Photo: Hani Mohammed/AP)

By Michael Day
Chief Foreign Commentator
October 20, 2021 6:01 am(Updated 10:15 am)

British lawyers will officially call on the Metropolitan Police Service to investigate senior figures in the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for alleged war crimes in Yemen.

London-based Guernica 37 Chambers will file a complaint with the Met, on Wednesday, and the Crown Prosecution Service’s “Universal Jurisdiction Unit”, which gives the UK authorities a remit to probe international war crimes.

Lead lawyer, Toby Cadman told i: “We are calling on the police to apply the law and launch an investigation if there is sufficient evidence to proceed, regardless of the status or power of those under suspicion. There shouldn’t be any excuses. We are seeking justice for dreadful human rights abuses.”

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Mr Cadman said 22 high-ranking officials across the Saudi Arabian and UAE governments and military are named in the request calling on British authorities to open a criminal investigation.

The complaint documents evidence by survivors, their relatives, and families of the deceased in three horrific incidents.

• An airstrike against a school bus in August 2018, killing at least 26 children and maiming dozens more
• A double tap airstrike in October 2016 against a funeral gathering which led to at least 140 deaths and over 600 life-changing injuries
• The torture and murder of civilians in Aden, southern Yemen by Colombian mercenaries under the command of a US private military company contracted to the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier this month, the Saudi Public Investment Fund took over Newcastle United football club. The deal has prompted outrage among human rights campaigners, and provoked fresh claims that the regime in Saudi Arabia was using sports sponsorship to distract attention from its grisly human rights record.

Guernica 37 describes itself as a conflict-focused international justice law firm that deals with “transnational litigation involving the enforcement of fundamental human rights protection”.

The legal work on behalf of survivors and their families of atrocities in Yemen was initially funded by a donation and now continues on a pro-bono basis.

In March this year the British police launched an investigation into allegations that Asma al-Assad, wife of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, incited and encouraged “terrorist” acts in Syria, after a similar request by Guernica 37.
Al-Assad, a dual British-Syrian national, could be stripped of her UK citizenship if convicted of the crime.
In 2017 Agnes Taylor, the ex-wife of the former Liberian president and convicted war criminal, Charles Taylor, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Service and charged with torture and conspiracy to commit torture. The case against her was eventually dismissed for lack of evidence.

But in recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in using international jurisdiction.
In July this year Swedish prosecutors announced their decision to prosecute an Iranian citizen for “committing grave war crimes and murder in Iran during 1988.

We can’t forget the UK’s shameful role in selling billions worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE throughout this brutal war, despite a court ruling saying ministers had acted unlawfully in allowing this

Prosecutors did not reveal the identity of the suspect, who has been detained in Sweden since November 2019.

In Germany, Switzerland and France other cases are underway or have delivered verdicts on claimed human rights abuses in Syria, Liberia, and Rwanda, respectively.

But more than anything, the latest legal action in London, will embarrass the UK government which sells Saudi Arabia many of the bombs that Saudi planes drop on Yemeni civilians.

Oliver Feeley-Sprague Amnesty UK’s arms programme director, said: “Yemen’s battered population has been subjected to more than seven years of relentless suffering and pain. Anything which gets us a step closer to holding those responsible for war crimes in Yemen to account is to be strongly welcomed.

“To date, there’s been no accountability whatsoever. But if we’re pointing the finger, we can’t forget the UK’s shameful role in selling billions worth of arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE throughout this brutal war, despite a court ruling saying ministers had acted unlawfully in allowing this. We need a full investigation into likely war crimes committed in Yemen using UK-manufactured arms.”

In December 2019, A coalition of European and Yemeni civil rights groups, submitted a dossier to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, asking them to investigate European government and arms company officials for potentially aiding and abetting war crimes in Yemen.

In March 2020 Human Rights Watch reported that Saudi-led intervention in Yemen has been committing serious violations of human rights since June 2019. HRW said that the abuses included arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearances and illicit transfer of detainees to Saudi Arabia.

The UN Human Rights Council – after vigorous lobbying from Saudi Arabia and the UAE – closed down the body’s War Crimes probe into Yemen earlier this month, despite the UN Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen having previously concluded that individuals at the highest level from Saudi Arabia and the UAE have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law in Yemen that may amount to crimes against humanity.

Legal developments in London come as Unicef reported that 10,000 children have now been killed or maimed in Yemen, since the conflict, seen by many as a proxy war between regional enemies Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted in March 2015.
“The Yemen conflict has just hit another shameful milestone: 10,000 children have been killed or maimed since fighting started in March 2015. That’s the equivalent of four children every day.,” said Unicef spokesperson James Elder .

Yemen’s humanitarian crisis – described by some experts as the world’s – worst is the result of protracted violence, economic devastation and shattered services for health, education and sanitation.

• Four out of every fiver children need humanitarian assistance. That’s more than 11 million children
• 400,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition
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• More than two million children are out-of-school. Another four million are at risk of dropping out
• 1.7 million children are now internally displaced because of the violence. As violence intensifies, particularly around Marib, more families are fleeing their homes
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• A15 million people (more than half of whom are children – 8.5 million) do not have access to safe water, sanitation, or hygiene