Some of the companies exporting tear gas to Bahrain have been identified. There may well be more. In the meantime, however, the corporations below should be shamed of the suffering their products have inflicted. They may want to consider making a public statement regretting their decision to export to a regime flagrantly abusing the human rights of its citizens. They may also want to consider compensating the families of those killed by their tear gas, or making a sizeable donation to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, to help stop the abusive use of their "non-lethal" products.
Click here to read article in Arabic. Thanks to مترجِم 14 فبراي for the translation.
Visiting the website of Condor Technologies, a Brazilian "non-lethal" arms company accused this week of exporting tear gas to Bahrain, one is instantly impressed that they have thought very hard about how to present their business. The front page picture asks us to ponder: what on earth is "Lethality Reduction"?
On Sunday in Bahrain, a funeral was held for Abdulali Ali Ahmed, a 73-year man who choked to death in his home from tear gas inhalation. The funeral itself was attacked by police with tear gas.
2205 GMT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist network said at least 15 civilians were killed by Syrian security forces today in Homs Province, the Jabal al-Zawiya area, and Maaret al-Numan in the northwest.
The Observatory earlier claimed that six soldiers, including an officer, were slain by defecting troops in Qusair in Homs Province, near the border with Lebanon: "Three armored vehicles were destroyed, and those inside were killed and wounded."
On the diplomatic front, the Qatari Prime Minister reportedly said that the Assad regime will agree to an Arab League plan allowing observers into the country. The Omani foreign minister of also said he is "optimistic" that Syria will sign the protocol within 24 hours "and save the Arab world from foreign intervention".
This weekend the League said Syria must accept the agreement or it would refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council.
Syria's state-run news agency SANA quoted Assad, speaking in front of an Iraqi delegation, that Damascus has "dealt positively with proposals presented because it's in our interest for the world to know what is happening in Syria".