British lawyers are trying to prosecute Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, the de facto ruler of the UAE, on charges of committing war crimes against civilians in Yemen.
The British newspaper The Guardian said a group of lawyers would file a case of war crimes committed in Yemen with British police against the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Human rights groups, along with lawyers, have filed lawsuits in Britain accusing key figures in Saudi Arabia and the UAE of involvement in war crimes in Yemen, the newspaper said.
The lawyers plan to take the case to the British police and prosecutor’s office, which includes the names of 20 politicians and soldiers in the two Gulf States who are involved in crimes against humanity, and have called for their immediate arrest if they enter Britain.
Guernica 37 did not release a complete list of names, but includes the names of Mohammed bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia are important allies of the United Kingdom and have made extensive investments in this area. The UAE owns Manchester City and Saudi Arabia bought Newcastle United for 350 million.
Toby Cadman, the lawyer leading the case, said he hoped the police war crimes unit would ignore political pressure from the British government and deal with the issue fairly.
He added: “We are talking about heinous crimes and we believe that there is no immunity from them. Gorinka has filed 37 other complaints against Asma al-Assad, the Syrian regime’s wife, and is being investigated by British police. Officers are investigating terrorism charges and stripping him of his citizenship on charges of crimes.
The human rights group spent nearly a year filing a new case against the leadership of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The case provides 200 pages to police and the Attorney General’s Office, containing evidence from the families of civilians killed in Saudi-led coalition attacks in Yemen.
Read more: An international study has revealed the enslavement of African workers in the UAE: https://www.paksahafat.com/en/?p=13881
The case focuses on controversial cases, such as an airstrike that targeted a school bus in northern Yemen in 2018, killing 26 children and injuring 19 others.
The second incident was an attack on a funeral in the capital, Sanaa, in October 2016, in which 140 people were killed and 600 injured, and coalition forces claimed responsibility at the time.
Evidence of torture and killings of civilians in Aden, southern Yemen, is provided by Colombian mercenaries working with a US security contractor hired by the UAE.
Cadman said his rights group relies on “public jurisdiction” under British law for crimes such as war crimes and torture.
He added: “Under British law, there is no obligation to commit a crime on British soil or to be a British killer or culprit.” Neither Saudi Arabia nor the United Arab Emirates joined the ICC in The Hague, so it is not possible to handle the case beforehand.