'UK soldiers model for arms sales'

The UK is using soldiers as salespeople to increase its arms exports to countries with shady human rights records, government data has revealed.

Records released by UK Trade and Investment show that over the past two years, armed personnel have been used to demonstrate what British arms companies- ranging from drone manufacturers to cyber-warfare specialists-have to offer.

The practice is part of a government drive to boost the armed forces sector, the Guardian published on its Sunday issue.

'ILLEGITIMATE USE OF MILITARY'

Campaigners and some politicians are questioning why soldiers are being used to promote private companies.

“The legitimate use of armed forces is for defence of your country. Of course there are big powers in the world that extend their influence through the military. I don't think that is a legitimate use of the military and it’s not what every state is signed up for,” said Jim Brann with Stop the War Coalition.

Caroline Lucas, who is seeking re-election as the Green party’s MP in Brighton, said: “Our soldiers should be spending their time training, not acting as cheerleaders for private companies.”

On average the UK annually sells about 3.5 to 4 billion pounds of arms to nations all over the world. But some of these nations-including Egypt and Qatar-are notorious for frequent human rights violations.

There is a particular focus on Qatar which has been identified by the British government as a priority market for its weapons. Last year delegations from Qatar were met on two occasions.

Campaigners say the UK should not deal with nations that hold questionable human rights records.

Jim Brann with Stop the War Coalition said: “When they sell weapons to a state that they consider to be a human right violator they have to in public say they don’t really approve of this. But the realities of power go against it. So it’s good that they feel under pressure, but it is also true that they don't actually agree to abide by the agreements they signed up to.”

Former Bahraini Lawmaker, Jalal Feirooz, told Press TV that these arms sales go against a specific British law.

“The most important thing is that, UK had an ethical legislation back in 1995, which states that, UK will not sell arms to the countries with poor human rights records and we know that all these countries, especially the Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain have very bad human rights records. So these arm sales are actually against the legislations of the United Kingdom.”

'HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS'

Qatar is part of a deadly Saudi air coalition that has been bombing Yemen for over a month now. The aggression has so far killed over a thousand people; among them many women and children. Many campaigners suspect Qatar is using British weapons in its assault on Yemen.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s government has been under scrutiny for cracking down on opposition protesters and issuing lengthy jail terms and death sentences for supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi. His trial has been described as “badly flawed” by Human Rights Watch. Morsi has recently been sentenced to 20 years in prison for inciting violence.

Feirooz said the UK and some other western nations are happy about and capitalizing on the current unrest in the Middle East.

“The UK has sold around 12 billion pounds of arms to the Persian Gulf States last year and it’s intending to raise it up to 18 billion this year. We know that there have been several clashes and wars in the Middle East and it is very obvious that these wars are no reason away from these arms sales. [This is] because without clashes and wars there wouldn't be any reason to buy arms,” added Feirooz.

“So we see that the UK and Western governments, especially the NATO, have either something to do with all these atrocities and wars in the Middle East or they are happy to see these wars because by those, they are selling more arms.”

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