Sam Walton (born 1980s in London) is a British peace activist and, as of March 2020, Chief Executive of Free Tibet and Tibet Watch. [1] He is most well known for his arrest on 29 January 2017 at Warton Aerodrome, Lancashire on suspicion of criminal damage after attempting to "disarm war planes" which he believed were bound for Saudi Arabia. [2]
Walton is a Quaker and used to work for Quaker Peace and Social Witness. [3] [4]
In September 2017 Walton was a key organiser of 'Art the arms fair' [5] an art exhibition designed to coincide with the Defence and Security Equipment International arms fair, it was supported by many artists including Banksy via a donated a piece called Civilian Drone Strike. [6]
On 30 March 2017 Walton attempted a citizen’s arrest on Ahmad Asiri who was visiting London, citing accusations of war crimes in Yemen. [7] [8] [9] Due to the protests and attempted arrest, the UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson phoned Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to apologize. [10]
On 29 January 2017 Walton and Methodist minister Dan Woodhouse were arrested after entering the British Aerospace Warton Aerodrome site after an attempt to disarm by damaging the Typhoon fighter jets stored there that they believed were bound for the Royal Saudi Air Force and therefore to be used in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. [11] The action was inspired by the Seeds of Hope group of the Plowshares movement who damaged a Hawk fighter jet in 1996. [12] The pair managed to get beyond fences, closed doors and sensors and were "just metres" from allegedly disarming Saudi Arabia-bound fighter planes with a hammer. [12] These actions gave Sam promince in Yemen. [13]
In October 2017 Walton and Woodhouse appeared at Burnley Magistrates court facing charges of criminal damage; both were found not guilty after successfully arguing that they acted for the greater good. [14] [15]
In 2018 Walton supported Ali Mushaima's hungerstike outside Bahrain's London embassy to call for his father Hasan Mushaima's release. [16] [17] [18] [19]
In 2017 Walton was outside of the Bahraini embassy when someone from within the embassy threw boiling water on the protest he was involved in. [20]
In 2014 Walton tried to get into the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre to protest weapons sales to the dictatorship in Bahrain. [21]
On 26 April 2012 Walton interrupted the Business Secretary Vince Cable’s address at a UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation (UKTI DSO) Symposium. Walton took to the stage to condemn the promotion of the arms industry. [22] [23]
Throughout 2011 & 2012 Walton was involved in 'Count Me Out', a group who opposed to the company Lockheed Martin’s involvement in the UK 2011 census. [24]
The Saudi Arabian Armed Forces (SAAF), also known as the Royal Saudi Armed Forces, is part of the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It consists of the Royal Saudi Army, the Royal Saudi Navy, the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Royal Saudi Air Defense, and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force. The King of Saudi Arabia is the Supreme commander-in-chief of all the Military Forces and forms military policy with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior. The five Armed Forces are among eight military forces of Saudi Arabia, with the others including the Royal Saudi National Guard, the Royal Saudi Guard Regiment and the Royal Saudi Border Guards.
The Arab states of the Persian Gulf or the Arab Gulf states refers to a group of Arab states bordering the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Yemen is bound to the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, based on history and culture.
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Warton Aerodrome is an airfield located in Warton village on the Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is 7 miles (11 km) west of Preston, Lancashire. The western end of the site adjoins the village of Freckleton.
Hasan Mushaima is an opposition leader in Bahrain and the secretary-general of the Haq Movement, an important opposition party in Bahrain. Before forming Haq, he was a founding member of Al Wefaq and a leading figure in the 1994 uprising in Bahrain. He has campaigned for more democratic rights in Bahrain and has been in prison in Bahrain since his arrest in 2011.
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The Yemeni Congregation for Reform, frequently called al-Islah, is a Yemeni Sunni Islamist movement established in 1990 by Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, with Ali Saleh's blessing. The first article of Islah basic law defines it as "a popular political organization that seeks reform of all aspects of life on the basis of Islamic principles and teachings".
The 2011Bahraini uprising was a series of anti-government protests in Bahrain led by the Shia-dominant and some Sunni minority Bahraini opposition from 2011 until 2014. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring and protests in Tunisia and Egypt and escalated to daily clashes after the Bahraini government repressed the revolt with the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Peninsula Shield Force. The Bahraini protests were a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of non-violent civil disobedience and some violent resistance in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain. As part of the revolutionary wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, the Bahraini protests were initially aimed at achieving greater political freedom and equality for the 70% Shia population.
Seeds of Hope was a plowshares group of women who damaged a BAE Hawk warplane at the British Aerospace Warton Aerodrome site near Preston, England, in 1996. The four were part of a larger group of 10 who planned the action. Their aim was to stop the aircraft from being exported to the Indonesian military, for use in the illegally occupied country of East Timor. They left a video and booklet in the cockpit of the aircraft to explain their motivation.
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, popularly known by his initials as MBS or MbS, is the heir apparent to the Saudi Arabian throne. He is currently Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. He is the seventh son of King Salman of Saudi Arabia and grandson of the nation's founder, King Abdulaziz.
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This article overviews the 2010s in Middle Eastern political history