A UK based human rights group is up in arms trying to prevent a shipment of 1.6 million tear gas canisters to Bahrain to protect civilians, Ahmed Ali from Bahrain Watch has told RT.
RT:Why do you think the Bahrain government could be
placing an order for vast quantities of tear gas?
Ahmed Ali: Well, Bahrain has been leading a campaign of
spiraling repression since 2011. The number one technique or
weapon that they have been using for that repression is tear gas
and I’m not surprised that it is starting to run out because
they’ve been firing an estimated hundred trucks a night, on
villagers, on civilians, on protester - men, women and children,
and the disabled. We’ve recorded over 39 deaths from the
excessive use of tear gas and part of these shots are direct body
shots on the head and neck
RT:So the fact that they are ordering more, does that
suggest that they are trying to contain the protests? More
protests are on their way, is that what they’re anticipating?
AA: What we recovered is a tender document of a proposed
shipment of 1.6 million tear gas canisters. And what we believe
is that no shipment has been made yet. It is at the process of
licensing approvals from the authorities, so the campaign that
we’ve unleashed at the moment is trying to prevent that shipment
from reaching Bahrain to prevent tear gas from being used against
civilians.
RT:You’re in the UK. How could you stop those tear
canisters getting to Bahrain?
AA: The campaign that we have set up is called ‘Stop the
Shipment’. It’s based on previous campaigns that we’ve witnessed.
And we have set up a website with a template email. It is a
global campaign where people can send emails to these
manufacturers and these export officials. We’ve noticed similar
trends in other countries such as Turkey where thousands and
thousands of emails were sent to these manufacturers and public
pressure can cause the authorities to shift their decisions, to
prevent this tear gas shipment from reaching Bahrain.
RT:What is your overall aim here, the human rights
group? Are you also in favor of toppling the Bahraini government
there? If so will that really stop the human rights issues
ongoing, bearing in mind what we’ve seen in countries such as
Libya and Egypt where the governments have toppled and the
situation there turned out to be chaotic and not good for human
rights?
AA: Bahrain Watch is an independent, non-political group.
What we have been concentrating on is arms exports and
surveillance technologies and the reformation process undergoing
in Bahrain. Whether or not the regime will be toppled or will
remain is not for Bahrain Watch to answer.
RT:What sort of political pressure are you as a group
putting on the UK government now?
AA: We’re trying to lobby Parliament here in the UK and
we’ve had a successful protest organized last week in front of
the S. Korean embassy because we believe that one of their
manufacturers is the number one supplier of tear gas in Bahrain.
There is also a protest organized on Friday morning outside the
Korean embassy. We have not yet received a response from Bahrain
directly in regards to this shipment yet, which points to the
notion that there is in fact a shipment going through and they
are trying to ignore it, so public pressure fades away. We have
had successes. Over 30 thousand emails have been sent to these
manufacturers. And we had the Korean Federation of Trade Unions
send a letter directly to the Korean officials asking them to
prevent this shipment from reaching Bahrain.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.