The following correction to this story was posted August 25, 2006: An Aug. 25 story about a British human rights group’s failed bid to sue government agencies over U.S. arms shipments to Israel should have said that, in the past, the U.S. Air Force has refused to confirm whether arms shipments were being routed through RAF Mildenhall, England.
A British human rights group lost its bid to sue government agencies for aiding alleged breaches of international law by allowing purported U.S. arms shipments through the United Kingdom, a London court decided Wednesday.
The England-based Islamic Human Rights Commission was seeking to bring the suit before the United Kingdom’s High Court.
The group, representing members of England’s Lebanese community, accused two government agencies and the secretary of state for defence of “acts of aiding and abetting grave and serious violations of international humanitarian law,” according to a release issued by the IHRC.
The group alleged that munitions purportedly flown from the U.S. to Israel through U.K. airports, including RAF Mildenhall, were used in breach of international law. U.S. Air Force base officials won’t confirm whether arms are being shipped through Mildenhall.
Osama Daneshyar, a lawyer representing the IHRC in the case, said the suit was largely derailed by a court requirement to prove that bombs moved through the U.K. were used inappropriately in Lebanon.
“In truth, how are you going to prove that?” he said.
The group has the option to appeal the decision but likely will not continue to litigate, he said.
The verdict was delivered on the same day a group of activists protesting similar allegations of arms shipments organized a rally at the gates of RAF Mildenhall.
Activists who have set up a “peace camp” next to the base joined a leader from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament at the gate to deliver a letter of protest to the base, where they say planes carrying bombs stopped to refuel.
Representatives of the base did not come to the gate to receive the letter.
