Bahrain used to perceive a need to appear responsive to U.S. concerns about its atrocious human rights record. Five years ago, after President Barack Obama publicly criticized the "mass arrests and brute force" used by the regime to put down popular protests during the Arab Spring, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa commissioned an international investigation and promised to implement a series of reforms. But as Obama backed away from his support for democratic change in the Middle East, so did Bahrain.
Another big step in that regression could come Monday, when Nabeel Rajab, one of the Arab world's most renowned human rights activists, faces sentencing on charges of speaking out on matters such as torture in Bahrain's prisons and the war in Yemen.
At times in recent years, the regime halfheartedly pursued dialogue with the opposition. But after the Obama administration lifted restrictions on arms sales last year in spite of a lack of change, the king returned to unmasked repression. Last month more charges were brought against Rajab after he published a "Letter From a Bahraini Jail" in the New York Times. In it he noted he had met Secretary of State John Kerry this year. "I would like to ask Mr. Kerry now: Is this the kind of ally America wants?" he wrote. Unfortunately, the message the Obama administration has sent to Bahrain is "Yes."
Editorial on 10/28/2016