AI : German weapons used to crush Arab uprisings

German weapons have been massively deployed in the Middle East and North Africa to smash peaceful protests, according to a report to be released Wednesday by the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International (AI). German arms exports included small firearms, ammunition and military vehicles which were used to squash demonstrations. The German government issued at least 77 million euros worth of arms export permits between 2005 and 2009, AI said.  According to AI arms expert Matthias John, these weapon deliveries were authorized  by the German government, even though there was a significant risk that they would  be misused to violate human rights. Berlin has close relations with a number of authoritarian regimes in the Arab world,  including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait and Yemen. The AI study focused on arms deliveries to Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Libya. The most important arms exporting nations included Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Britain, Italy, Austria, Russia, the Czech Republic and the US. Germany's overall arms export to the Near-and Middle East hovered reportedly around 1.1 billion euros last year. In 2009, the United Arab Emirates was among the three leading recipients of German weapons, according to a report released by the center-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Germany sold around 540.7 million euros worth of military hardware to the UAE, among them radar and steering systems, torpedoes, simulators, missiles, hand grenades, armored vehicles, tank spare parts, automatic cannons, amphibious vehicles and trucks.  Meanwhile, the other Persian Gulf country, Saudi Arabia, was listed sixth in the  overall export of German weaponry with 167.9 million euros. German military gadgetry to the Arabian country included airplanes, spare parts for combat jets, missile parts, refueling aircraft, grenades, sea mine removal instruments and communication systems. German arms sales to the UAE reached 846 million euros between 2006 and 2009, while weapon exports to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain stood at 441 million and 184 million euros respectively during the same corresponding period.  Critics have slammed German arms exports to the volatile Middle East region since the German constitution bans the sales of weapons to a crisis area.