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US must do more than express 'concern' about Bahrain crackdown
Last week, I made my first journey from Bahrain to Washington, D.C. to ask the U.S. government for help. The Kingdom’s latest crackdown on those calling for democracy is intensifying. Last year, when Bahrainis demonstrated in the streets calling for government reform, like many others in countries across the Middle East, they were met with violence. Some were shot, thousands were arrested, many tortured in custody, some until they died. After drawing criticism for the crackdown, the King of Bahrain appointed a special commission to advise it on reforms. A year ago this week, it listed a series of recommendations the Bahrain government should do to turn things around. Most haven't been done.
The U.S. government knows all this. It has teams of people in the White House, State Department and Pentagon following what's happening in Bahrain. The U.S. Fifth Fleet is based in the country and it has an embassy there, too, so it's not short of information about what's going on. It knows that in recent weeks things have become worse. All protests have now been banned, leading human rights activists remain jailed, 31 people have been stripped of their citizenship and others sent to prison for criticizing the King on Twitter. Police use tear gas to attack civilians virtually every night.
Some protestors are urging an increase in violence as a response to the crackdown, saying peaceful protest hasn't worked and the international community doesn't care.
This may make some wonder why I chose to visit the United States. I went with leading human rights lawyer Mohammed Al Tajer, who represents some of the many political prisoners in Bahrain.
Like many of us in Bahrain, I still see the U.S. as representing values of democracy and human rights. We believe the U.S. can help us find a peaceful way out of the current crisis. As we met with officials in Washington, we were hoping to hear about their plans to help us achieve that goal. What we heard is that there's obviously some reassessment going on in the United States government about what to do next. I told them to be bold. The United States must take new and imaginative steps to pressure the Bahrain regime. It's most definitely not going to be enough for the United States to simply change its language from "concerned" to "deeply concerned" in its public statements about Bahrain.
The people of Bahrain need the United States to publicly say it won't sell arms to the Bahraini government unless there is real reform and that it will impose visa bans on those it believes responsible for committing human rights violations. It should tell the Bahraini government that its relationship is not unconditional, that it cannot take U.S. support for granted. Before it’s too late and violence escalates, the United States needs to show peaceful protestors in Bahrain visible signs that the United States stands with them in their quest for freedom and democracy.
Some in Washington understand what's needed. We met senators and representatives from both parties who continue to push the United States to prevent things from spiraling further in Bahrain. But the Obama Administration has to think big and act fast to avoid another disaster in the region. The protests aren't going away and the United States needs to take steps now to save itself an even bigger problem in the future and the inevitable regret that it should have intervened sooner. Bahrain is a key strategic U.S. ally.
We hope that those in Washington will start acting like it.
Haji is a Bahraini physician and the director of Training and Development for the Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO).
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