BEHEADING, CORRUPTION AND THE UK'S BLIND EYE.

       The arms industry is a true capitalist enterprise, devoid of any morals. Since 1960 the regime of Saudi Arabia have been a major purchaser of UK made arms. This is not just a series of corporate manufacturers selling to the highest bidder, the hand of the UK state is involved in most of these deals as they are government to government contracts. Governments are expert at putting nice names to despicable affairs, recently BAE arms manufacturer sold 72 Euro fighters to Saudi Arabia, at a cost of £4.4 billion, the project was named The Salam (Peace) Project. UK corporate business with the help and blessing of the UK government, makes billions supplying all manner of weapons to what is probably one of the most repressive regimes on the planet. This regime of Royal despots rule over a country that as well as brutal repression, is in the eyes of most observers is rife with corruption on a massive scale. The Guardian has ran numerous reports of allegations of corruption at the highest level.. In 2004, following revelations about a £60 million "slush fund", the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) began an investigation. There were further allegations in June 2007 that BAE, with approval of the UK’s Ministry of Defence, had made payments worth hundreds of millions of pounds since 1985 to bank accounts under the personal control of Prince Bandar, the son of Prince Sultan. On 14th December 2006 the SFO announced that it was stopping its investigation. CAAT and The Corner House challenged the decision in the courts. In April 2008 the High Court ruled that the SFO had acted unlawfully in curtailing the inquiry, but this ruling was overturned by the House of Lords on 30th July 2008. More information about the case and documents which were released during it can be viewed here.

The whole thing stinks.

      Saudi Arabia is also a country that beheads people, for among other things, the crime of sorcery. The latest case of this was a 60 year old woman who was headed for the crime of sorcery, and recently a man was beheaded for the same crime, it seems he told fortunes. This year alone the Saudis have executed 79 people, 5 of them women, compared to 27 for the whole of last year. It is obvious that they are stepping up the repression with one eye on the “Arab Spring”. It is criminal, but to be expected, that the UK state considers Saudi Arabia to among its “friendly” allies.

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