Elham Asaad Buaras
US defence contractors are facing a lawsuit filed on March 2 by seven Yemeni nationals accusing them of “aiding and abetting war crimes and extrajudicial killings” by supplying arms to the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen, reports the Middle East Eye.
The case against Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics, which was filed in Washington DC, also names Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin.
Plaintiffs claim they represent the victims of two bombings in Yemen, one in 2015 that targeted a wedding and one in 2016.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), 43 people were killed in an attack on the al-Sanabani family in October 2015, including 13 women and 16 children. HRW say a year later in October 2016, a Paveway II laser-guided bomb, made in the US, was used to bomb a crowded funeral, killing more than 100 people.
“I found him under a burning car, he was dead, his legs and right hand was cut off. He was completely burnt,” Khaled Ali Salem Chaib, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement detailing the death of his son from the wedding bombing.
“Some nights when I sleep, I feel tight in my body, and I have disturbing nightmares. I can’t bear to see the scene of the crime since.”
The Yemeni plaintiffs are filing the lawsuit under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). Under the 1991 law victims of torture cab sue their tormenters if the accused are in the US.
The lawsuit names the Saudi and Emirati crown princes under the Alien Tort Statute, a law that grants federal courts jurisdiction over violations of international law.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by Terrence Collingsworth of International Rights Advocates, comes more than a month after the Campaign Against Arms Trade said it would be taking legal action against the UK government over its arms sales to Saudi Arabia during the ongoing war in Yemen.
Photo: General Dynamics Lockheed Martin F-16C Fighting Falcon Viper (Credit: Christopher Ebdon/Flickr Commons)
