These French companies “export arms to the coalition [émirato-saoudienne]knowing that it has been committing war crimes since 2015”, deplores one of the complainant NGOs.
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Heavyweights of French industry are targeted for complicity. Three NGOs announced, Thursday, June 2, to have filed a complaint in Paris against Dassault, Thalès and MBDA France for “complicity in war crimes” and “complicity in crimes against humanity”. They accuse them of having sold weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which used them against civilians in Yemen.
The three companies “export arms to the coalition [émirato-saoudienne], while knowing that she has been committing war crimes since 2015″, lamented Cannelle Lavite. She works for the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, one of the civil parties.
According to NGOs, Dassault makes attacks possible “against civilians and civilian infrastructure” by having sold and especially by ensuring the maintenance of 59 Mirage acquired by the United Arab Emirates, allowing them to “stay operational”, continued Cinnamon Lavite. The MBDA France company is, for its part, targeted for having exported Storm Shadow and Scalp missiles to the belligerents. The Thalès group is pointed out for having provided them with a missile guidance system called Damoclès and Thalios, mentions the lawyer.
The Yemeni NGO Mwatana, also a civil party, like the French NGO Sherpa, claims to have documented “a thousand attacks against civilians”. The balance sheet is “of at least 3,000 dead and 4,000 injured” due to use “recent weapons” sold to the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, according to its executive director, Abdulrasheed Al-Faqih. In April 2019, the French investigative media Disclose confirmed the use of French weapons in Yemen.
Since 2014, the Yemeni conflict, which has claimed thousands of lives, has pitted Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, against government forces, assisted by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.