[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1159-S1160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   ANNIVERSARY OF PROTESTS IN BAHRAIN

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, in a truly dubious distinction, this week 
marks the 7th year since tens of thousands of Bahraini citizens took to 
the streets of Manama in protest.
  These brave men and women put themselves at great risk to demand 
greater access to their political system and more accountability from 
their government.
  Rather than engage these protestors in meaningful dialogue, the 
regime responded with violence, tear gas, and rubber bullets.
  After much international attention, Bahrain's King agreed to set up 
the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, or BICI, and to fully 
implement its recommended reforms.
  I say to the Senate today, on the seventh anniversary of the 
demonstrations, that the regime has not upheld this fundamental 
commitment.
  In fact, the situation has only grown worse over the past 12 months 
as the regime has actually taken a number of huge steps back.
  In January of 2017, the regime restored arrest and detainment powers 
to Bahrain's National Security Agency, despite that agency's past 
involvement in torture and coercion of political prisoners.
  Later in the year, the King approved a constitutional amendment 
allowing military courts to try Bahraini citizens, a move Amnesty 
International called ``disastrous'' and warned would be used to crack 
down on political opposition.
  These policies are fundamentally at odds with the BICI 
recommendations and make clear what folks in international human rights 
community have long said, that the regime has no intention of upholding 
its commitment.
  The State Department last certified in 2013 that the regime had fully 
implemented a mere handful of the BICI recommendations. The last State 
Department update, in 2016, failed to identify any further progress 
taken.
  Last year a panel of UN human rights experts noted a ``sharp 
deterioration of the human rights situation in the country . . . aimed 
at muzzling any discordant voice and suppressing dissent.''
  The State Department's most recent Human Rights Report details the 
Bahraini regime's willingness to revoke citizenship as a punishment, 
often without providing a concrete justification and without an 
opportunity for basic due process.
  A Washington Post story from last year indicated the regime revoked 
citizenship from more than 100 Bahrainis

[[Page S1160]]

in the first half of 2017, and reports indicate the regime issued 
deportation orders to eight Bahrainis just last month after stripping 
them of citizenship.
  A number of organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Americans 
for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, have echoed these 
observations.
  Regrettably, the Trump administration has done almost nothing to push 
Bahrain's leaders to fulfill their commitments and do better by their 
own citizens.
  Why would they when the Embassy of Bahrain is throwing lavish parties 
at the Trump Hotel right here in DC?
  As I try to make clear every year, these observations, which have 
become a sad tradition of mine, are not an attempt to undermine 
Bahrain's government.
  Bahrain has been a longtime U.S. ally and a partner in a region where 
partnership can be difficult to come by, but precisely because of our 
close ties, I feel compelled to speak out when I see such blatant 
repression of basic human rights.
  Oregonians--indeed, Americans--expect their elected officials to hold 
our international partners to a higher standard. And that is what I am 
doing here today.
  I renew my call on the Bahrain's monarchy to halt its deliberate 
campaign of silencing peaceful opposition, to stop the indefensible 
revocation of citizenships, and to release political prisoners like 
Nabeel Rajab and Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.
  I fear that only then will Bahrain be able to move forward together 
in peace and prosperity, and I look forward to that day.

                          ____________________