CAMPAIGNERS have expressed alarm at the amount of closed evidence heard during the High Court case challenging Britain’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which launched the legal action, said that the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, which closed on Thursday, had been “shrouded in secrecy,” with campaigners and their lawyers shut out of the courtroom.

Evidence heard behind closed doors included the government’s figures on potential violations of international law committed by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. 

Emily Apple from CAAT said: “It is alarming that there appears to be so much closed evidence that we are not allowed to see, including even the figure for the ‘small number’ of possible [international humanitarian law] violations the government claims to have identified. 

“This means we are not able to analyse what’s being said and the people in Yemen are prevented from knowing exactly how this government justifies the arms sales that have devastated their lives. This is not justice.”

The government was forced to halt arms sales to the kingdom in 2019 after a court ruled that the weapons might have been used to commit war crimes. 

However, their resumption was ordered in 2020 by then international trade secretary Liz Truss, who claimed that potential breaches of international humanitarian law were “isolated.” 

Britain has sold weaponry worth over £23 billion to the Saudis since the conflict began in 2015, according to CAAT. 

During that time, 8,983 civilians have been killed in air strikes by the Saudi regime and its allies, with bombs hitting hospitals, weddings and funerals. 

Despite this, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Commons last week that he had “absolutely no problem” with supporting Saudi Arabia, after he was asked to address MPs’ concerns about human rights abuses. 

A decision on the CAAT challenge is expected in two to six months.