I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3445 

To prohibit the sale of arms to Bahrain. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015 

Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mr. PITTS, and Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Affairs 

A BILL 

To prohibit the sale of arms to Bahrain. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The Bahrain Inde5 pendent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) Accountability Act 

6 of 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 

9 (1) The Kingdom of Bahrain is a party to sev10 eral international human rights instruments, includ11 ing the International Covenant on Civil and Political 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3445 IH

1 Rights, adopted December 16, 1966, and entered 

2 into force March 23, 1976, and the Convention 

3 Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or De4 grading Treatment or Punishment, done at New 

5 York December 10, 1984. 

6 (2) The citizens of Bahrain significantly inten7 sified their calls for government reform and respect 

8 for human rights in February 2011, with hundreds 

9 of thousands participating in nonviolent demonstra10 tions. 

11 (3) Article 1 of the Royal Order No. 28 of July 

12 1, 2011, established the Bahrain Independent Com13 mission of Inquiry (BICI) and mandated the Com14 mission ‘‘to investigate and report on the events oc15 curring in Bahrain in February/March 2011, and 

16 any subsequent consequences arising out of the 

17 aforementioned events, and to make such rec18 ommendations as it may deem appropriate’’. 

19 (4) The BICI was composed of well-renowned 

20 international human rights experts who were author21 ized to investigate human rights violations and rec22 ommend measures for accountability. 

23 (5) The BICI received approximately 9,000 

24 written complaints from both Bahraini citizens and 

25 foreign residents who claimed to be victims of 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3445 IH

1 human rights violations, and the BICI conducted 

2 over 5,000 personal interviews with those individ3 uals. 

4 (6) The 503-page BICI report ‘‘investigating 

5 and reporting on the events that took place in Bah6 rain from February 2011, and the consequences of 

7 those events’’ was submitted to the Government of 

8 Bahrain on November 23, 2011. 

9 (7) The BICI report made 26 ‘‘recommenda10 tions for reconsideration of administrative and legal 

11 actions, and recommendations concerning the insti12 tutionalization of mechanisms designed to prevent 

13 the recurrence of similar events, and how to address 

14 them’’. 

15 (8) The King of Bahrain received the BICI re16 port on November 23, 2011, and pledged to ‘‘con17 ceive and implement reforms that satisfy all seg18 ments of our population’’ to achieve national rec19 onciliation. 

20 (9) The Department of State stated on May 11, 

21 2012, ‘‘While the Government of Bahrain has begun 

22 to take some important steps to implement the rec23 ommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commis24 sion of Inquiry report, the country is becoming inVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Sep 09, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3445.IH H3445

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3445 IH

1 creasingly polarized and much work remains to be 

2 done.’’. 

3 (10) On August 14, 2013, the Department of 

4 State submitted a report to Congress entitled ‘‘Im5 plementation of Recommendations by the Bahrain 

6 Independent Commission of Inquiry’’, which deter7 mined only 5 of the 26 recommendations of the 

8 BICI report to be ‘‘fully Implemented’’ by the Gov9 ernment of Bahrain. 

10 (11) The BICI report determined that the Bah11 rain Defence Force ‘‘was one of the main organs in12 volved in the implementation of Royal Decree No. 18 

13 of 2011 pursuant to which the State of National 

14 Safety was declared in Bahrain’’. 

15 (12) The BICI report found the Bahrain 

16 Defence Force units ‘‘holding law enforcement pow17 ers executed arrest warrants against some individ18 uals, including doctors employed by the Salmaniya 

19 Medical Complex (SMC) and former parliamentar20 ians’’. 

21 (13) Human Rights First has found that no of22 ficials from the Bahrain Defence Force have been 

23 held accountable for excessive use of violence against 

24 peaceful protesters since 2011. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3445 IH

1 (14) Amnesty International determined that op2 position leader Ali Salman is a prisoner of con3 science who was sentenced to four years in prison, 

4 after an unfair trial, on June 15, 2015. 

5 (15) According to the Project on Middle East 

6 Democracy, the Government of Bahrain summoned 

7 Bahraini opposition leader Khalil al-Marzooq over an 

8 investigation into insulting a government ministry 

9 and inciting hatred on June 30, 2015, and July 1, 

10 2015. 

11 (16) According to the Americans for Democracy 

12 and Human Rights in Bahrain, the Government of 

13 Bahrain re-arrested the recently released Bahraini 

14 opposition leader Ibrahim Sharif in connection with 

15 a speech in which he peacefully criticized the govern16 ment and called for political reform on July 12, 

17 2015. 

18 (17) The Department of State’s 2014 Human 

19 Rights Report on Bahrain released on June 25, 

20 2014, found, ‘‘The most serious human rights prob21 lems included . . . arrest and detention of protesters 

22 (some of whom were violent) on vague charges, occa23 sionally leading to their torture and mistreatment in 

24 detention; and lack of due process in trials of politVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Sep 09, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3445.IH H3445

emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 3445 IH

1 ical and human rights activists, students, and jour2 nalists, including harsh sentences.’’. 

3 (18) The Department of State announced on 

4 June 29, 2015, the decision to lift the holds on secu5 rity assistance to the Bahrain Defence Force and 

6 National Guard that were implemented following 

7 Bahrain’s crackdown on demonstrations in 2011. 

8 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF CERTAIN ARMS TO BAH9 RAIN. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi11 sion of law, the United States Government may not sell 

12 or transfer to the Government of Bahrain any of the items 

13 set forth in subsection (b) until the Secretary of State cer14 tifies that the Government of Bahrain has fully imple15 mented all 26 recommendations set forth in the 2011 Bah16 rain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report. 

17 (b) PROHIBITED ITEMS.—The items referred to in 

18 subsection (a) are as follows: 

19 (1) Tear gas. 

20 (2) Small arms. 

21 (3) Light weapons. 

22 (4) Ammunition for small arms and light weap23 ons. 

24 (5) Humvees. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 3445 IH

1 (6) Other items that could reasonably be used 

2 for crowd control purposes. 

Æ 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS