HRW Calls for MbS Arrest During G20 Summit for War Crimes in Yemen, Khashoggi Killing

Rasa - Human Rights Watch (HRW) formally requested Argentine judicial authorities to use a domestic constitutional clause to arrest and prosecute Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) for war crimes in Yemen and the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he enters Argentina later this week to attend a G20 summit.

News ID: 441768

Date: 28 November 2018 - 09:53

RNA - The rights group filed a submission with an Argentine federal prosecutor on Monday, presenting its public findings on violations of international law during a Riyadh-led military campaign against Yemen and the young prince's possible complicity in serious allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of Saudi citizens, including Khashoggi, World News reported.

“Argentine prosecutorial authorities should scrutinize Mohammad bin Salman’s role in possible war crimes committed by the Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in Yemen,” HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth said.

“The crown prince’s attendance at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires could make the Argentine courts an avenue of redress for victims of abuses unable to seek justice in Yemen or Saudi Arabia,” Roth added.

“A decision by Argentine officials to move toward investigation would be a strong signal that even powerful officials like Mohammad bin Salman are not beyond the reach of the law,” Roth stated, noting that “and Mohammad bin Salman should know that he may face a criminal probe if he ventures to Argentina”.

The Saudi Arabia's crown prince is expected to attend a meeting of leaders of the world’s major industrialized and emerging economies, known as G20, in Buenos Aires on November 30.

Argentine officials believe that it is extremely unlikely that the inquiry might produce an arrest warrant for bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, before the gathering.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating campaign against Yemen in March 2015, with the aim of bringing the government of former Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah movement.

Official UN figures say that more than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led bombing campaign began in March 2015. But the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) believes that at least 56,000 people have lost their lives in the war. The violence has also left around two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27 million relying on aid amid an ongoing strict naval and aerial blockade. According to the world body, Yemen is suffering from the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

Save the Children, a charity, has reported that more than 84,700 children under the age of five may have starved to death in Yemen since the Saudi regime and a coalition of its allies launched the brutal war on the already-impoverished nation.

Yemen is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people in need and is seeing a spike in needs, fuelled by ongoing conflict, a collapsing economy and diminished social services and livelihoods.

A number of Western countries, the US, the UK, and France in particular, are accused of being complicit in the ongoing aggression as they supply the Riyadh regime with advanced weapons and military equipment as well as logistical and intelligence assistance.

an Oxfam representative stated that the US, UK, and French governments are behind millions of people starving in Yemen because they are “supporting this war".

“We have 14 million people starving,” Richard Stanforth, Oxfam UK’s regional policy officer for the Middle East, told RT, adding that "British, French, American governments are all behind this, they are all supporting this war".

A UN panel has compiled a detailed report of civilian casualties caused by the Saudi military and its allies during their war against Yemen, saying the Riyadh-led coalition has used precision-guided munitions in its raids on civilian targets.

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