Despite official condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s executions, many wonder why Germany doesn’t take action against the kingdom. Critics think arms exports to the country should have been stopped a long time ago.

Many countries have condemned Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr together with three other Shiites and 43 alleged members of al Qaeda .

The Saudi embassy in Tehran was even attacked by protesters, and in response, countries including Bahrain and the UAE backed Riyadh by bringing their diplomats back from Tehran.

Germany, France and other world powers have urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to engage in dialogue – but many wonder if words are enough. Even as Western powers like Germany condemn Saudi Arabia’s policies, they continue to export arms to the country, and thus benefit from its conflicts, critics claim.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Schäfer said at a news conference that Germany opposes the death penalty, but added that he is “unaware of any government plans to impose sanctions for this reason.”

In the first half of 2015 alone, Germany approved a number of arms exports to the Gulf region, despite concerns about conflicts and human rights violations. Among the exports approved were 15 patrol boats for Saudi Arabia.

The latest report showed that the value of Germany’s arms sales, the world’s fourth-biggest arms exporter, was 3.5 billion euros ($4 billion) in the first six months of 2015 – compared to 2.2 billion euros in the first half of 2014.