Karen McVeigh - guardian.co.uk
Amnesty International condemns State Department as 'irresponsible' for granting export licences to munitions firms.
Two US companies have shipped crowd control munitions and teargas to Egypt – one firm repeatedly – in the midst of violent and often lethal crackdowns on protesters by security forces, according to an Amnesty International investigation.
The human rights group has asked for Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, to stop granting export licences for teargas and other munitions, pending an investigation into its misuse by Egyptian forces.
Combined Systems Inc (CSI), based in Jamestown, Pennysylvania, has sent at least three arms deliveries to Egypt since the protests began in Tahrir Square on 25 January, according to Amnesty. The most recent delivery, addressed to the interior ministry, arrived in the port of Adabiya near Suez on 26 November, only 48 hours after days of bloody clashes between interior ministry troops and protesters left two dozen dead and thousands injured.
Amnesty said the November shipment contained at least seven tonnes of "ammunition smoke" - which includes chemical irritants and crowd control agents such as teargas.
The investigation tallies with eyewitness reports from Egyptian demonstrators who told the Guardian last month they had seen teargas canisters branded with CSI's name and address.