UK urges more arms sales to Bahrain as prince visits Counter Terror Expo

A British arms sales team from United Kingdom Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation(UKTI DSO) has been promoting weapons exports to Bahrain, even as the repressive Gulf state cracks down on civilian protest. A few days before, a son of the ruler, who is a senior commander in Bahrain’s Royal Guard, toured Counter Terror Expo in London seeking the latest technologies to employ against democracy protesters.

UKTI DSO Head Richard Paniguian and British Defence Attache Commodore Christopher Murray met with the Bahrain Minister for Defence Affairs, Lieutenant General Dr. Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, in Manama on 29 April to discuss bilateral military cooperation. Over the five years 2008-12, the UK has licensed almost £13 million worth of weapons to Bahrain, including over £4 million worth of small arms, despite its dire human rights record and brutal suppression of protest.

On 25 April, Prince and Royal Guard Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, visited Counter Terror Expo 2013 in London. In an official statement he stressed the importance of new technologies to contain the detrimental repercussions of terrorism.

In 2012 a human rights group alleged that the prince was personally engaged in beating, flogging and kicking pro-democracy protestors in April 2011. Documentation describes how Sheikh Nasser, who is the president of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, launched a punitive campaign to repress Bahraini athletes who had demonstrated their support [for] the peaceful pro-democracy movement. The prince denied the allegations. The UN Rapporteur on Torture has had a planned visit to Bahrain indefinitely postponed by the Bahrain government.

Kaye Stearman from CAAT said:

UK efforts to sell weapons to this abusive regime seem undimmed by events. First, a member of Bahrain’s ruling family visits London to shop for the latest technologies to monitor and suppress citizens who want to exercise the basic human rights which the UK government says that it supports.

A few days later the head of the UK government’s arms sales unit flies to Manama to meet another member of this same ruling family to persuade them to buy even even more UK weaponry. In another few months the red carpet will be rolled out for a Bahrain delegation to visit the DSEI arms fair. We should stop selling Bahrain arms and should tell their ruling family they are not welcome in the UK.

ENDS

Notes

1. Bahrain is a long-established market for UK arms exports. In 2012 the UK licensed weaponry worth £4.6 million to Bahrain. The largest category by far was small arms, amounting to £4.2 million. A single licence, approved on 26 October 2012, amounted to £4.1 million, including 400 machine guns. In addition, there were licences totalling over £3.3 million for dual use items, of which over £3.2 million was for telecommunications and information security which could be used to monitor civilians.
2. UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation(UKTI DSO) is the government’s arms sales unit, based in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Richard Paniguian has been its head since its establishment in 2008.
3. Prior to 2011, the government listed Bahrain as a key market for UK arms exports. UKTI DSO supported the Bahrain International Airshow 2010, where it organised an outdoor event and UK armed forces have been used in support of sales efforts, demonstrating arms to the Royal Bahrain Artillery. Bahrain was invited to attend the Farnborough Airshow in 2010 and 2012 Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) in 2009 and 2011.
4. The UK government announced that it revoked 44 military licences in February and March 2011 to Bahrain, at the beginning of the Arab Spring protests. However, many licences remained in place and by June 2011 military exports had resumed. On 10 October 2012 the UK signed a new defence agreement with Bahrain.
5. The report of the Foreign Affairs Committee, issued on 17 October 2012, noted that Bahrain was not listed as a country of concern by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual Human Rights Report despite its appalling human rights record and suppression of democratic protest and recommended that it be classified as such.
6. Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) works to end the international arms trade. The arms business has a devastating impact on human rights and society and damages economic development. Large-scale military procurement and arms exports only reinforce a militaristic approach to international problems.