Campaigners lose challenge to British arms export licences to Saudi Arabia

LONDON (Reuters) - Campaigners who alleged Britain was unlawfully allowing arms sales to Saudi Arabia for possible use in the war in Yemen have lost a legal challenge at London's High Court.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) had argued the British government wrongly decided to resume issuing new licences to export military equipment to Saudi Arabia in 2020.

However, the court rejected CAAT's legal challenge in a written ruling on Tuesday.

The judges, Andrew Popplewell and Andrew Henshaw, said in their ruling that the British government's analysis of potential breaches of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia was not irrational.

A government spokesperson said. "We welcome the Court's judgment. The Government takes its export responsibilities seriously and assesses all export licences in accordance with strict licensing criteria.

"We will not issue any export licences where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria."

CAAT spokesperson Emily Apple said in a statement that the group was disappointed with the decision, but added: "The judgment has exposed the fact that the government's arms export licensing regime is incredibly permissive."

At the hearing in January, the British government had argued that there has been a "sustained decrease" in the number of allegations of violations of international humanitarian law over the course of the war.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Alistair Smout; editing by William James)