Doubting Saudi Arabia’s pledge not to deploy the munition in Yemen, the organisation has called for an investigation into the issue.
According to a report, Greenpeace said Saudi Arabia received around 310 containers of explosives from Spain over the past 10 months. The story came to light after some personnel at Bilbao port, north of Spain, refused to take part in handling the containers because of their opposition to the war in Yemen.
“We raised this issue with the Spanish government, and the latter assured us that the documents accompanying the issuance of licences for the sale of these weapons clearly emphasise their non-use,” the organisation’s spokesperson in Spain, Alberto Estevez, told Al Jazeera.
He, however, expressed doubt that the Saudi authorities would not meet this commitment, especially given the record of Riyadh.
Estevez called on the Spanish authorities to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia “because of the risk that they will be used to commit atrocities and war crimes in Yemen”.
Spain is the third largest arms exporter to Saudi Arabia after the US and UK, according to Greenpeace. The official said Spanish arms exports to Saudi include mortar shells, aircraft and various kinds of ammunition. A non-government organisation last year published a report on the use of Spanish weapons and explosives in the war in Yemen by both the Saudis and the Houthis, he added.
He expressed fears that war atrocities would be committed using this ammunition in Yemen, adding that several international organisations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have documented war crimes and violations by Arab coalition led by Riyadh.
He demanded a comprehensive international investigation to be conducted to punish those responsible for committing atrocities.
Back in March this year, Greenpeace had expressed concern over the Spanish sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and had called on Madrid to stop supplying arms to Riyadh due to the misery inflicted on people in Yemen.
More than 8,000 people have been killed since a Saudi-led coalition launched a military campaign in March 2015 against Iran-allied Houthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa.
The conflict has left 17mn people facing dire food shortages - including nearly seven million who are one step away from famine in the country, which is heavily dependent on food imports.
At the same time, since late April, a cholera outbreak has killed more than 1,100 people while 167,000 Yemenis - one-third of them children - are ill, according to UN figures.
