organization:bahrain defense force

State Department Resumes Arms Sales to Bahrain
▻https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/29/u-s-will-resume-sending-weapons-bahrain-despite-ongoing-repression

The State Department announced it will lift its freeze on arms sales to the repressive government of Bahrain on Monday, despite the country’s myriad human rights abuses in recent years, including arbitrary detention of children, torture, restrictions for journalists and a brutal government crackdown on peaceful protestors in 2011.

“The Administration has decided to lift the holds on security assistance to the Bahrain Defense Force and National Guard that were implemented following Bahrain’s crackdown on demonstrations in 2011,” wrote John Kirby, a State Department spokesperson, in a press release on Monday.

U.S. State Department Requests $10m for 2014 Bahrain Military Assistance: The State Department requested $11.1 million in foreign assistance to Bahrain, $10 million of which is allocated to foreign military financing to sustain the 85-90 percent of the Bahrain Defense Force’s equipment that is of U.S. origin. Bahrain’s ongoing political and social unrest “underlines the importance of the Bahraini government addressing its citizens’ demands for political reform” for both Bahrain’s internal stability and “for the sustainability of the U.S.-Bahraini decades-long security partnership.” The United States will continue to protect its interests and “leverage all tools available, including foreign assistance, to encourage Bahrain’s leadership to implement democratic reforms and adhere to human rights standards…”

▻http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/208291.pdf