Justin Welby's predecessor as the archbishop of Canterbury has sent a message of support to five Christian activists who will appear in court this week after blocking one of the entrances to the London arms fair earlier this month.
Telling them that he wished them well, Rowan Williams added: "I am very grateful for those who have courageously drawn attention to the scandal of this situation, and to the wider question of the way governments support and subsidise the arms trade."
"Outrage about one kind of horrific and illegal weaponry will not be taken seriously unless it is part of a comprehensive willingness to tackle all forms of collusion with technologically advanced violence against human beings."
Williams, who stood down after nearly 10 years in Lambeth Palace and is currently Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University, also implied that the UK, US and other governments were being hypocritical about Syria's use of chemical weapons.
"The world's conscience is rightly shocked by the use of chemical weapons in Syria; but we need to remember that there are many other illegal forms of weaponry – and the international arms trade continues to turn a blind eye to the promotion and sale of many of these (cluster munitions, for example)," he said in a statement.
The five activists, who include a Methodist minister, have been charged with aggravated trespass and will appear in Thames magistrates court on Tuesday.
They are among a larger group of campaigners who obstructed delegates trying to get into the Defence Security and Equipment International (DSEi) event at the ExCeL centre.
Those involved included members of the direct action group Christianity Uncut and the SPEAK Network, a Christian charity that campaigns on human rights, as well as other Christian groups.