US offers 'tepid' criticism of Bahrain crackdown

The US State Department has criticized Bahrain for failing to carry out recommendations towards protecting the freedom of expression, which includes nonviolent dissent.

The department has compiled a report which gauges Bahrain’s implementation of recommendations made by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

The report, sent to the US Congress this week, says the Manama regime has interpreted the commission's recommendations narrowly.

“The government of Bahrain continues to charge and prosecute individuals with offenses involving political expression, including some who have not advocated violence,” it said. 

US Senator Patrick Leahy slammed the Bahraini government for “torturing prisoners” and its “actions to silence opposition political leaders, to persecute human rights defenders, and to revoke the citizenship of a leading cleric.”

The senator was referring to Bahrain's most prominent Shia cleric Ayatollah Isa Qassim who was stripped of his citizenship on Tuesday. 

The decision against Sheikh Qassim followed the suspension of Bahrain's main opposition group, al-Wefaq, with human rights organizations saying it was part of a new crackdown on dissent.

Bahrain has been in turmoil since a 2011 uprising backed by majority Shias demanding greater civil and political rights from the Saudi-backed monarchy. 

"These abuses further limit what few remaining opportunities exist for peaceful dissent in that country,” Leahy said.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken about the report with Bahrain's foreign minister on Wednesday, and urged the regime to make necessary reforms.

The report, which was delayed for months, appears to represent muted criticism of a key US ally in the Middle East that hosts the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy.

‘Tepid criticism’

Brian Dooley, a director at the US-based Human Rights First, criticized the report.

“Releasing such a tepid criticism in the middle of the most ferocious crackdown against opposition and human rights leaders in five years leaves the State Department, again, looking like it can't face the reality of Bahrain's mess,” Dooley said.

Bahrain has seen a wave of anti-government protests since mid-February 2011. Troops from other US allies, notably Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have been deployed to help crush largely peaceful protests.

On Wednesday, it was revealed that the head of the British armed forces has visited Bahrain, in what has been denounced as London’s consent to Manama’s crackdown on the pro-democracy drive across the Persian Gulf island.

General Sir Nicholas Houghton, chief of Britain’s Defense Staff (CDS), arrived in Bahrain on Tuesday, only a day after Ayatollah Qassim was stripped of his citizenship.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, told the Middle East Eye online news portal that the visit was a "sad demonstration of just how little" the British government cares about human rights.

The visit came on the same day that a Bahraini court extended the detention of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, who was re-arrested on June 13.

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