[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                BAHRAIN

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this month marks the 14th year since 
thousands of Bahraini citizens took to the streets to peacefully 
protest the oppressive practices of the Bahraini Government. These 
citizens--to include human rights defenders and pro-democracy 
activists--were brutally repressed by their own leaders. Since then, I 
have stood in solidarity with the Bahraini people demanding 
accountability, and I will continue to do so until we see real change.
  Unfortunately, all these years later, the Bahraini Government has 
failed to implement basic changes to guarantee the fundamental rights 
that every government owes its citizens. The Government of Bahrain 
continues to impose restrictions on expression, assembly, and 
association.
  Bahraini elections are neither free nor fair, and authorities 
systematically exclude and repress opposition voices. In 2023, the 
government arrested four men for simply suggesting on social media that 
Bahrain should improve its legislative system.
  The State Department's most recent human rights report judged that 
there was no improvement in the human rights situation in Bahrain. No 
improvement? Nearly 15 years to address these fundamental flaws and the 
Bahraini Government still has nothing to show for it!
  I called on the Government of Bahrain to release its political 
prisoners, and while I was heartened to hear that the Bahraini 
Government granted amnesty to 2,500 prisoners last year, they should 
not have been detained in the first place. Many of these prisoners were 
unjustly detained, and thousands remain in prison under inhumane 
conditions and without fair trial.
  Hundreds of political prisoners remain detained in the now-infamous 
Jau Prison in Bahrain, where two people died last year because of 
medical neglect. The U.N. has raised troubling concerns that detainees 
at this facility have been denied required medical care and do not have 
regular access to adequate food and safe drinking water. Some 
allegations have suggested that authorities have intentionally exposed 
prisoners to extreme heat in these facilities, at times reaching 122 
degrees Fahrenheit. These conditions are unacceptable, particularly 
when many of these prisoners have been denied fair trials and due 
process.
  My goal today is not to insult or undermine a U.S. ally. It is 
precisely because of our strong ties that I feel compelled to speak out 
and demand better. It is my greatest hope that someday I will be able 
to stop issuing these statements into the record every February because 
the Bahraini regime has stopped repressing its citizens and has instead 
entered into a real and inclusive dialogue with them.
  In short, I am not asking for lip service; I am asking for real 
change. I renew my call on 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 
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Abduljalil al-Singace.
  And I call on the Trump administration and, in particular, Secretary 
Rubio--who has previously been a staunch advocate in the U.S. Senate 
for advancing human rights in Bahrain--to take this issue seriously and 
demand more accountability from Bahrain at the highest levels.

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