Britain’s royal family has met members of autocratic Middle Eastern monarchies nearly once a fortnight since the crackdown on ‘Arab Spring’ protests began 10 years ago this month. Their visits have often coincided with human rights abuses in the Gulf, where pro-democracy activists are punished for criticising the Windsor ties to regimes.
Ten years on from the Arab Spring, the UK government’s relationship with a brutal regime in Egypt goes from strength to strength, as the country witnesses its worst human rights crisis in modern history, under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Former British prime minister John Major praised Oman’s dictator, Sultan Qaboos, for passing a law that gave him absolute power, describing it as ‘clearly a most imaginative and constructive step forward’. The law enacted in 1996 by the close British ally effectively banned political parties, independent media and criticism of the ruler.
Ahmed Al-Batati, a Lance Corporal in the British army, staged a public protest against British arms sales to Saudi Arabia in August, concerned that “a child was dying every 10 minutes” in Yemen. In his first interview since becoming a civilian, he tells Declassified that others in the army share his view and that he took action because parliament did nothing.
The official inquiry into the 2017 Manchester bombing has yet to probe the links between the terrorist, Salman Abedi, and UK covert action during the 2011 war in Libya – yet there is no point in the inquiry unless it asks difficult questions the British establishment would rather avoid.
The UK military supplied 2,323 spare parts for Tornado fighter jets to an arms company in Saudi Arabia last year, despite a court order against exporting weapons for use in the Yemen war, Declassified UK has found.
Britain’s largest intelligence agency, GCHQ, is refusing to publish details of its bases in Oman, where it is believed to operate three surveillance sites.
A Saudi air force officer who crashed while undertaking ‘operational tasks’ over Yemen was taught to fly by Britain’s Royal Air Force and arms corporation BAE Systems, the UK government has confirmed.
Britain’s deepening military relationship with Israel comes under scrutiny as details emerge from Declassified UK’s information requests.
Britain’s Royal Air Force has trained 25 pilots from Saudi Arabia to fly the powerful Typhoon jet and continues to provide instruction on using missiles involved in devastating attacks on civilians in Yemen.