Web of Violence – US Ally South Korea, Prime Supplier of Weaponised CS Gas to Bahrain

South Korea is Playing a Deadly Game By Fueling Bahrain’s Violent Crackdown
By John Horne and Ahmed Ali – 16 October, 2013

An unlikely, unexpected, and dangerous trade has formed between South Korea and Bahrain. South Korea has been exporting loads of teargas to Bahrain, turning a blind eye to the deadly harm that it is causing in the government’s efforts to crack down on protesters.

The Bahrain government has engaged in a relentless crackdown since February 2011 against a population calling for democracy, human rights, and socio-economic justice. Western governments, with strategic and commercial interests in the Kingdom, have continually turned a blind eye to ongoing torture, extrajudicial killing, suppression of free expression, and arbitrary persecutions. However, while policing equipment manufactured by U.S. and UK companies was documented in Bahrain in 2011, the scale of the violations has made further exports of purported “crowd-control” weapons unpalatable by those countries.

Accordingly, Bahrain has been turning further afield for assistance. One such country is South Korea, a G20 member and staunch Western ally, whose companies have found a ready market in Bahrain for teargas and other repressive equipment. The two states have formed closer commercial and security ties since the start of the 2011 uprising, despite Bahrain’s appalling human rights record since then.

On New Year’s Eve 2011, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed. Sayed Hashem was struck in the face with a teargas canister fired by Bahraini security forces during a peaceful anti-government protest. The graphic pictures of his body, like those of another child, Ali Jawad, show clear and visible marks of the canister wound. As Hashem lay in his own blood, a group of bystanders attempted to resuscitate him. They were subsequently shot at with teargas. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights reports that when the women at the scene accused the security forces of killing the young boy, they were told, “Shut up and don’t you dare speak of this.”

The canister that killed Hashem is visually identical to those manufactured by South Korean firm DaeKwang Industry Company Ltd and sold by Korean company C.N.O. Tech Ltd. DaeKwang has historically denied exporting to Bahrain, although it lists the country in its “global network” map. Another South Korean company, C.N.O. Tech, exports DaeKwang products and has a local reseller in Bahrain.

Over 100 people have been killed as a consequence of the government’s crackdown on protesters. Over 30% of the deaths caused by security forces have been as a result of teargas which is usually fired at protesters in massive quantities over residential areas as a form of collective punishment. At least four of those killed were shot directly with teargas canisters. Most recently, 20-year-old Mahmood Al Jaziri was filmed being shot in the head intentionally by security forces. He died a few days later on Feb. 22. An 8-year-old boy also lost his life in January after exposure to large amounts of teargas fired into his village. His funeral procession, like those of others killed by Bahrain’s police, was also targeted with teargas. This is one of the many, reckless, ways that security forces enact petty repression in the form of systematic reprisals against those deemed in opposition to the government and ruling family. …more