Heckler & Koch to stop selling weapons in “crisis regions,” including Egypt

No MP5 for us, huh? German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch pledged to no longer sell arms “into warzones or to countries that violate corruption and democracy standards, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, or any African countries,” The Guardian reports. The company’s strategy was not announced, but was mentioned in its financial report and confirmed at its AGM. “The move makes Heckler & Koch the first arms company to have a more ethical export control policy than its own government,” The Guardian’s Ben Knight suggests. The company now sells only to “‘green countries,’ which it defined according to three criteria: membership of Nato or ‘Nato-equivalent’ (Japan, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand); Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index; and the Economist Intelligence Unit’s democracy index.”