Clinton Speech Misses Mark on Bahrain Human Rights Abuses

Washington, DC – Human Rights First is disappointed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to use her speech at the U.S.-Islamic Forum last night to condemn the human rights crackdown in Bahrain, including the deaths of several activists in police custody. In a statement released today, Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley noted: “Why so quiet about this? What are democracy activists in Bahrain to make of her insistence that a ‘one-size fits all approach’ doesn’t make sense in such a diverse region at such a fluid time’? Does this mean there is a separate set of standards for Bahrain because it hosts U.S. military ships and is close to Saudi Arabia?” “The U.S. Government has been shamefully muted in its response to what’s happening in Bahrain. For weeks peaceful activists have been harassed, beaten and arrested. It looks like U.S. Government policy is that some human rights defenders are more equal than others; in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia they need to be protected, in Bahrain ignored.”