Scottish arms traders

28 firms from Scotland are due to attend an arms fair in London dubbed a “festival of violence” – including a US arms giant with a factory in Fife that’s been linked to alleged war crimes in Yemen.

The Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair will take place at the Excel Centre in East London between 12-15 September, with around 34,000 attendees expected. It is one of the largest arms fairs in the world, a bi-annual event that brings more than 1,500 exhibitors together with military delegations from around the world. It includes governments with dire human rights records. DSEI facilitates arms sales ranging from rifles to tanks, and from fighter jets to battleships. Some 56 countries have been invited, including regimes accused of gross human rights abuses. Among them are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

Companies based in Scotland due to attend the event include Raytheon, which makes laser guided systems for smart bombs used in Yemen and Chemring, a company based in Ardeer accused of selling weapons to Gulf State countries who use them to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations. Major arms firms with facilities in Scotland also due to attend DSEI include BAE Systems, Leonardo, Thales and Lockheed Martin. Other smaller companies due to take part include Jack Ellis Body Protection, from Kirriemuir, MacTaggart Scott and Digital Barriers, a firm selling surveillance technology.

Campaign Against Arms Trade said the guest list for DSEI includes a range of “despots, dictatorships and human rights abusers” from regimes that have committed “terrible abuses” against their citizens. “Yet UK civil servants and government ministers will be rolling out the red carpet for them. If Theresa May and her colleagues care for human rights and democracy then it’s time to shut down DSEI,” the campaign’s Andrew Smith argued.