Rights Activist:

S. Arabia Deliberately Killing Civilians in Yemen

Rasa - The international human rights organizations' reports on Saudi Arabia's crimes in Yemen merely display the tip of an iceberg, an activist said, adding that Riyadh is killing civilians deliberately.

News ID: 426089

Date: 27 December 2016 - 23:56

RNA - "The International Human Rights Watch has released just a little part of Saudi Arabia's use of cluster bombs in Yemen," Head of the Legal Center for Yemen's Development Taha Abu Taleb said.

He said that Saudi Arabia's crime of using the US and British cluster bombs is much more horrible than what has been released by the HRW.

"Saudi Arabia is violating all international laws and regulations by deliberately killing the civilians and destroying Yemen's infrastructures," Abu Taleb said.

Saudi Arabia admitted earlier this month that it used UK-manufactured cluster bombs against Yemeni people, increasing pressure on the British government which has repeatedly refused to curb arms sales to Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia said it would cease to use UK-manufactured cluster bombs and that it had informed the UK government of this decision.

“It has become apparent that there was limited use by the coalition of the UK-manufactured BL755 cluster munitions in Yemen,” said a spokesman for the Saudi forces in Yemen, Ahmed al-Asiri.

He went on to claim that the bombs were only used against legitimate military targets and that the kingdom was not part of the convention banning the use of such munitions.

“Some states have undertaken a commitment to refrain from using cluster munitions by becoming party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither Saudi Arabia nor its coalition partners are state parties to the 2008 convention, and accordingly, the coalition’s use of cluster munitions does not violate the obligations of these states under international law,” he said.

He noted that Riyadh has decided to stop the use of cluster bombs and that it has informed the British government of its decision.

The Saudis' announcement came after a British Defense Ministry inquiry showed that Riyadh had used UK-supplied cluster bombs in Yemen.

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