THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Bahrain's western allies reacted furiously on Thursday night to the Gulf kingdom's use of force to clear sleeping protesters off a square in the capital Manama, killing at least three protesters.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, told the House of Commons: "We are greatly concerned about the deaths that have occurred." The government said it was reviewing export licences for Bahrain in light of the fact that recent ones covered the sale of tear gas canisters and other riot control equipment.
"We closely consider allegations of human rights abuses," said the foreign minister responsible for the Middle East, Alistair Burt. "We will not authorise any exports which, we assess, might provoke or prolong regional or internal conflicts, (or) which might be used to facilitate internal repression."
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, called the Bahraini foreign minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa to express Washington's "deep concern about the action of the security forces" and urged that funerals coinciding with Friday prayers today were not marred by further violence. Bahrain's deadly crack down condemned by West >>> Adrian Blomfield, Manama and Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, February 17, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Bahrain uses UK-supplied weapons in protest crackdown: MoD to review arms export licences after Bahrain clears protesters with UK-made crowd-controls weapons such as teargas and stun grenades >>> Peter Beaumont and Robert Booth | Thursday, February 17, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: WikiLeaks: US wanted 'derogatory' information on Bahrain king's sons: The US State Department secretly asked its diplomats in Bahrain to report any "derogatory" information about two of the King's sons and evidence of "rivalry" with senior members of the ruling royal family, leaked documents show. >>> Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Thursday, February 17, 2011
