clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Trump lifts human rights conditions on sale of F-16s to Bahrain

April 10, 2017 at 3:00 pm

Image of a F-16 fighter jet [Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway/Wikipedia]

The Trump administration has lifted human rights conditions imposed under previous US President Barack Obama on an upcoming multibillion-dollar sale of F-16 fighter jets to Bahrain.

Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker says that arms sales are no place for human rights restrictions.

One of the conditions imposed by the Obama administration was the release of human rights activist Nabeel Rajab who helped lead the Arab Spring protests. Rajab has been charged with spreading “false news” via Twitter about the Saudi-led war in Yemen and torture by authorities in prison. He is yet to stand trial.

Read: Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab’s trial postponed

In 2011 the US, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates helped government forces in Bahrain crush protests in the country. A number of activists have been imprisoned and forced into exile whilst civilians can now be tried at military tribunals. The Shia opposition has also been dismantled.

Brian Dooley of Human Rights First has said that if the sale of F-16s to Bahrain goes ahead it will “encourage further repression” and fuel instability.

The sale will send exactly the wrong signal to the dictatorship: that the White House thinks the political crackdown is not just morally acceptable but also not dangerous, when in fact it’s what’s fuelling the country’s instability.