Bahrain Mirror: Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) launched a petition online calling on US citizens to ask congress representatives to demand that Trump administration stops the recently announced weapons sale to Bahraini government. This comes with the condition that the Bahraini authorities implement reforms in the human rights arena, and seriously commit to path towards democracy.

The petition read, "We strongly urge you to block the Trump Administration's recently-announced weapons sale to the Government of Bahrain. This weapons sale reportedly has no human rights conditions attached to it. A release of weapons to the Bahraini government would send a green light to authorities that they will receive little-to-no pushback against their violent, repressive policies that further serve to destabilize the country."

"The Department of State in its recent 2016 human rights report found a number of systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the Bahraini government, including excessive use of force against protesters and imprisoning human rights defenders," it went on to say.

"Bahraini authorities must prove that they will not continue systematically committing human rights violations against the country's civilian population. U.S. weapons sales to foreign countries -- if they should happen at all -- should always include human rights conditions to help ensure stability and peace abroad," the petition concluded.

In January 2017, there were news of a surprise announcement on the release of a previously-blocked multi-million dollar fighter jet package to the Government of Bahrain with no human rights conditions. The U.S. government had previously blocked the sale in 2016 due to concerns that the Bahraini government systematically violated the human rights of civilians. At the start of a new U.S. Administration under President Trump, the announcement of the sale is extremely worrying.

Arabic Version