Italian government officials, and a major European arms manufacturer including German firm face legal action over Saudi arms sales in the aerial bombardment of Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians.
Rights Group Denounces Western Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia, Allies in Yemen War and filed a complaint on Tuesday with the prosecutors’ office in Rome against officials from the Italian foreign ministry and the local subsidiary over arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
Two human rights groups have given the government of French President Emmanuel Macron two months to end its arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which are involved in a devastating three-year-old conflict in Yemen, or face legal proceedings.
The move was announced at a joint press conference of the organisations in Rome on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia leads a coalition conducting a bombing campaign of Yemen, aided by UK military advisers, against Houthi rebels.
Recent challenges to the Saudi bombing campaign by human rights and anti-arms organisations in the UK and elsewhere in Europe have failed because they have tended to be too broad.
The groups mounting the legal challenge in Italy hope that by focussing on a specific incident a well-documented bombing on 8 October 2016 that left a family of six dead, including four children they will increase their chances of success.
>Juthy Saha
Legal Action against Italian Officials Regarding Saudi Arms Sales
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