Application for Permission to Appeal (CAAT)

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) makes an application for permission to appeal the decision of the High Court dismissing its claim. The claimants submit that there is, at least, a real prospect that the Court of Appeal will find that the Court erred in one or more of three matters. First, that it erred in its approach to the open source material and findings as no evidential basis has been put forward to discount the prima facie evidence that there has been a pattern of IHL violations. Second, that it erred in relation to the duty to consider Saudi Arabia’s past record of compliance with IHL and its conclusion that the Secretary of State was not required to ask these questions. Third, that the court erred in its analysis of the term serious violations of IHL, which the claimants submit is broader than war crimes under international law. Separately to this, it is submitted that this is an issue of public significance that justifies the grant of permission to appeal.