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"The misuse of such weapons must be fully investigated and curbed if such oppressive practices and unnecessary suffering and deaths are to be avoided in the future."
PHR earlier investigated Bahrain's militarized healthcare system. It protested against repressive tactics. Hospitals are occupied. Medical professionals are terrorized. They're arrested, tortured and imprisoned for treating anyone injured during street demonstrations.
PHR also wants Bahraini authorities to disclose which toxic agents security forces use.
It hopes to establish a new international group of health professionals, public health experts, lawyers, and law enforcement officials. It wants guiding principles drafted on use of toxic chemicals. It wants to determine if any considered nonlethal should be reclassified under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Chemicals harmful to health or lethal are weapons. Prohibiting their public use is essential. Bahrain and other repressive governments use them freely. According to Sollom:
"It is increasingly evident that tear gas has effects far more severe than commonly understood.""The tears it produces are not limited to those caused by temporary stinging of the eyes, but flow also from people who receive long-lasting injuries and trauma from its indiscriminate use, and from friends and relatives of tear gas victims left blind, wounded, or dead."
It's impermissible to use these agents against civilians. They terrorize, harm and kill.
Al-Khalifa authorities use them for maximum advantage. Bahrainis suffer and die. Obama and other Western leaders ignore their crimes. They continue unaccountably.
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