Canada Defends $15-billion Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia In Canadian Courts

A convoy of vehicles, including a Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV III) and a Leopard 2A6M Main Battle Tank from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group, during an operation in Kandahar Province © Reuters

Globe and Mail: Professor has no legal right to fight Saudi arms deal, Ottawa says

Federal government lawyers say a University of Montreal law professor who is challenging a $15-billion sale of combat vehicles to Saudi Arabia has no business fighting it in court because he is not personally a victim of a crime under humanitarian law.

Daniel Turp, a professor and former Parti Québécois politician, is trying to halt the military export. The case wrapped up in Federal Court on Tuesday with Ottawa arguing international human-rights treaties do not apply to Canada’s sale of fighting vehicles.

The deal brokered by the Harper government and endorsed by the Trudeau government is controversial because watchdog groups often rank Saudi Arabia as one of the worst abusers of human rights on the planet. The country is accused of violating international humanitarian law on a military mission in Yemen to quash a rebellion.

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Update #1: Canada defends $15-billion deal with Saudi Arabia (Al Arabiya)
Update #2: Canada defends record $11bn arms sale to Saudi Arabia in court (RT)
Update #3: Dion chose jobs over human rights when approving Saudi arms deal, lawyers argue (Globe and Mail)

WNU Editor:  The decision to sell these arms to Saudi Arabia all came down to jobs .... nothing more and nothing less.