Brazil’s foreign ministry has released a statement saying it will investigate the use of a Brazilian Company’s teargas in Bahrain.
The statement followed an article in O Globo Newspaper by Rasheed Abou-Alsamh highlighting the evidence of teargas canisters in Bahrain featuring the words ‘made in Brazil’.
The author of the article has translated the statement into English, see below:
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it is examining whether there was a breach of contract in the use of tear gas made by a Brazilian company, Condor Non-Lethal Technologies, against pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain.
Re-exports of arms without the authorization of the seller country is prohibited, and Condor has not sold tear gas to the monarchy of the Persian Gulf, according to the company and the foreign ministry.
The most likely hypothesis, however, is that the gas was used by one of the other five monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Saudi Arabia, which sent troops to Bahrain in March 2011 to support the King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.
Condor, a maker of “non-lethal” weapons and ammunition based in Rio and that earns 30% of its earnings in exports, has confirmed that countries in the region are clients, but does not reveal which ones.
Activists attribute the death of a baby to a substance of the gas, whose main chemical agent is chlorobenzylidene malononitrilo.
Condor said it received the news of the baby’s death with “disbelief”, stating that its tear gas is also used in Brazil and in 40 other countries and that it follows “international safety standards.”
The statement seems to suggest that Condor has not sold teargas to Bahrain but instead to other Gulf countries which has then ended up in the hands of Bahrain. This seems fairly unlikely but at least Brazil is now feeling the pressure to investigate the case.
Since protests in February began at least 13 people have been killed directly as a result of teargas, with the youngest victim being just 5-days-old. There have been videos and pictures of whole villages being engulfed in the toxic and deadly smoke omitted from the canisters.
We hope that Brazil will take immediate action to ensure no more Brazilian teargas is used in Bahrain, and of course we hope that other countries follow suit.
