Starbucks: Apologize for Expelling the Families of Torture Victims

Starbucks: Locking Customers Inside?

Greetings,

I am a Starbucks customer concerned over new reports that a Starbucks branch in Bahrain willingly locked a large group of customers inside the facility, then later kicked them out, all as the result of an unofficial and illegal government request.

Despite hundreds of letters, Starbucks has failed to apologize. Indeed, your company has not even made a statement about the incident.

Starbucks proudly claims to have "a positive impact" on the communities the company's numerous branches all over the world serve. "As good neighbors we get involved with local efforts to bring people together and create positive change whenever we can," reads the Starbucks mission on community involvement. "Bringing people together, inspiring change and making a difference in people’s lives – it’s all part of being a good neighbor. And it’s a commitment rooted in the belief that we can use our scale to be a catalyst for change."

But managers at a Starbucks outside Bahrain's Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs willingly and immediately agreed to an unofficial government request to lock a group of journalists, international observers, human rights advocates and the families of torture victims being tried over their opposition to the government inside the facility. Then, a short time later, the staff agreed to an unofficial government request to expel the group and immediately close down.

Starbucks employees perhaps felt they were in a position in which "a conflict exists between the Standards and an applicable law, rule or regulation."

However, there is no Bahraini law rule, or regulation justifying the expulsion of paying customers from a Starbucks. Even if such a conflict did exist, the management of the Starbucks should have sought guidance, as per the Starbucks procedure on "Asking for Guidance and Voicing Concerns."

Instead, Starbucks management agreed to lock everyone in and then later to kick everyone out within minutes.

This amounts to a violation of Starbucks' own policies and collaboration with a government that tortures and violates the human rights of its citizens.

There is no reason for Starbucks' good image to be tarnished by this incident.

As a paying and concerned Starbucks customer, I ask that you publicly apologize for the actions of Starbucks staff in Bahrain, and as a gesture of good faith make a contribution to a local Bahraini human rights or pro-democracy group of your choosing.

I look forward to your response.

[Your name]