[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   ANNIVERSARY OF PROTESTS IN BAHRAIN

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this month marks 5 years since Bahrainis of 
all backgrounds took to the streets in Manama in peaceful protest, 
calling for reform in their country. As Senators have heard me recount 
here before, the Government of Bahrain responded with violence and 
repression, torture and retaliation. In response, the monarchy set up 
an independent commission: the so-called Bahrain Independent Commission 
of Inquiry, or BICI. And I say this is important to recall because many 
of the BICI's 26 specific, concrete recommendations remain unfulfilled 
5 years later.
  That certainly isn't what the government of Bahrain wants you to 
believe. In fact, the regime's representatives continue to insist that 
they have fully implemented all of the BICI recommendations. As they 
tell it, they have turned the page on that chapter of Bahrain's 
history.
  But members of Bahrain's peaceful opposition feel trapped in a never-
ending story. Nongovernmental organizations like Americans for 
Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, Amnesty International, Human 
Rights First, Human Rights Watch, and the Project on Middle East 
Democracy have all documented the regime's ongoing repression. The 
State Department's most recent annual human rights report for Bahrain 
states that protestors face ``arbitrary deprivation of life,'' ``arrest 
and detention of protesters . . . occasionally leading to their 
torture,'' and ``restrictions on civil liberties, including freedom of 
speech, press, assembly association, and religion.'' And as some 
colleagues know, the State Department could last certify that Bahrain 
had only fully implemented 5 of the 26 BICI recommendations. That is a 
pretty far cry from full implementation.
  As the son of a journalist, I want to take a minute to highlight one 
particular aspect of the regime's repression: the crackdown on speech 
and expression. As recently as this month, a Bahraini court sentenced 
an internationally known photographer to serve jail time for 
participating in an unlicensed protest. The regime has similarly 
targeted bloggers as well as prominent and award-winning 
photojournalists for merely capturing Bahrain's ongoing unrest. And 
just this month, a Bahraini court sentenced a Sunni opposition leader 
to 1 year in prison for giving a political speech.
  Despite these concerns, the Obama administration chose last year to 
resume selling or transferring certain arms to the Government of 
Bahrain. I was one of the biggest proponents of the arms ban dating 
back to 2011, and I saw no reason to revisit the policy last year. In 
fact, I introduced the bipartisan BICI Accountability Act, legislation 
that would block the administration's decision to overturn the weapons 
ban until the State Department could certify that all 26 BICI 
recommendations were fully implemented.
  I am not here to make broad pronouncements about what the Government 
of Bahrain should look like--that is very much a conversation for 
Bahrain's people and its rulers to have. But as President Obama said in 
2011, ``you can't have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful 
opposition are in jail.'' For Bahrain to move forward, the government 
will need to release the opposition leaders still languishing in its 
prisons.
  The United States and Bahrain have ties that go back decades; our 
countries are partners and allies. Indeed, I am not disappointed with 
the Government of Bahrain despite our bilateral relationship; I am 
disappointed with the Government of Bahrain because of our bilateral 
relationship. The United States of America has an obligation, it 
strikes me, to ask more of her friends and allies around the world. And 
when they falter or fail, the U.S. has a duty to help them live up to 
their potential. And of course, there is always the real danger that 
continued unrest or even greater instability could impact the safety of 
our soldiers in Bahrain or the future of the American presence there.
  For these reasons, I speak out today against further oppression, and 
I call again for reconciliation and reform in Bahrain.

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