“In order to protect the long term US interests of security and stability in the Middle East, US policy to confront violent extremism must prioritize urging allies such as Egypt, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to turn away from repression and denying the basic rights and freedoms of their own people,” Human Rights First’s Neil Hicks said in a press release.
Human Rights First said that by partnering with authoritarian governments with horrendous human rights records the United States “risks pursuing a contradictory, or even counter productive strategy” in the fight against violent extremism.
Bahrain, where the US Fifth Fleet is based, commits serious human rights abuses, including the inability of citizens to change their government peacefully, arrest of protesters, torture, and trials against political and human rights activists, according to the US State Department’s annual human rights report.
Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the region, has troubling human rights record including restrictions on freedom of expression, religious restrictions, lack of equal rights for women, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and discrimination, among other abuses, according the State Department.
The State Department report on Egypt lists the most serious human rights abuses, as the removal of an elected government, abuses by security forces including killings and torture, suppression of civil liberties, lack of freedom of expression and military trials for civilians.
