Bahrain Report via Twitter

By John Ballard

Maryam Alkhawaja is Zainab's sister and Head of the Foreign Relations Office, Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Family members including her father, Bahrain's leading human rights activist, have been in jail since their arrests following Bahrain's echoes of the Arab Spring.
Trials yesterday resulted in harsh sentences.
Her father and seven others were given life sentences.  HerTwitter feed provides a real-time first person account.

The following narrative is lifted from my Chiurpstory collection of her Tweets. The first tweet here was published yesterday morning.

There are several protests in different areas in #bahrain right now  Tmrw will be the sentencing of the 21 prominent figures

Alkhawaja was sentenced to life, and he said that the ppl will continue on their path, he was beaten and removed from court 

Zainab Alkhawaja (@angryarabiya) houted "Allahu Akbar" when the sentence was read, and was arrested because of it

1. AbdulWahhab Hussain: Life imprisonment. Member of coalition for a republic, respected writer
   


2. Hassan Mushaima: life imprisonment. Head of AlHaq movement. member of coalition for a republic.
   


3. Mohammed Habib AlMuqdad: life imprisonment. Respected cleric. Head of AlZahra Orphanage.
   


4. Ebrahim Sharif: 5 years imprisonment. President of Waad society.
   


5.  AbdulJalil AlMuqdad: Life imprisonment. Respected cleric. Cousin of Mohammed Habib.
   


6. Abduljalil AlSingace: life imprisonment. Head of #humanrights office at Haq movement.
   


7. Abdulhadi AlMukhodher: 5 years imprisonment. Respected cleric
   


8. Saeed AlNouri: Life imprisonment. Respected cleric.
   


9. Abdulla AlMahroos: 5 years imprisonment. Vice president of AlZahraa Orphanage.
   


10. Abdulhadi Alkhawaja: life imprisonment. Internationally known human rights defender.
    


11. Salah Alkhawaja: 5 years imprisonment. Independent activist, Abdulhadi's younger brother.
    


12. Mohammed Jawad: 15 years imprisonment. Prominent independent activist. 
    


13. Mohammed Ali Radhi: 5 years imprisonment. Social activist.
    


14. AlHur AlSumaikh: 2 years imprisonment. Member of AlHaq movement. 

In absentia:

• Saeed AlShehabi: life imprisonment. Head of Bahrain Freedom Movement
  


• Aqeel Alsari: 15 years imprisonment. Independent political activist.
  


• AbdulRaouf AlShayeb: 15 years imprisonment. Head of Alkhalas movement.
  


• Abbas AlOmran: 15 years imprisonment. Member of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
  


• Ali Mushaima: 15 years imprisonment. Member of committee of unemployed. Son of Hassan Mushaima.
  


• Abdulghani Khanjar: 15 years imprisonment. Head of the anti-torture committee.
  


• Ali AbdulEmam: 15 years imprisonment. Known as the Godfather of blogging.
  

and after this, a national dialogue? The regime is trying to agitate the people, if not try to turn people to violence

Zainab Alkhawaja (@angryarabiya) was forcefully removed from court for shouting "God is Greater", fear for her safety   It is the regime's hope to create a divide in the opposition, get AlWefaq and followers to talk about dialogue, while agitating ppl on the streets to make them more angry and to turn against each other 

This method of divide and conquer is not new to the Bahrain gov, and the people r smarter than the gov thinks  Reema Ahmed, mother of 2, has been sentenced to six months imprisonment for participating in peaceful protests   @angryarabiya is in the central governant's policestation, no one has been able to see her yet, family member there with lawyer 

The ppl sentenced today are ppl who spent many years fighting for reform in Bahrain, it is time the ppl paid them back  All political prisoners must be released for any kind of progress to happen in Bahrain  All those responsible for torture, killings & terrorizing ppl must be put on fair & independent trials, smthing they never gave Bahrain ppl

The courts in #bahrain do not meet international standards for human rights and fair trials Everything from the time of arrest, up to the sentencing of political prisoners in #bahrain goes against the international standards

Zainab Alkhawaja @angryarabiya was made to sign a pledge and she was released

After my father was sentenced to life imprisonment today, he screamed "the struggle will continue" He has faith in the ppl of Bahrain  My uncle Salah Alkhawaja was sentenced to 5 years. He was arrested and tortured in the 90's as well  A protest came out in Karzakkan after the sentencing and it was violently dispersed by security forces  Ebrahim Sharif chanted Silmiya Silmiya (Peaceful) as he was dragged out of court according to @BentAlmarzoooq 

AbdulWahhab Hussain to judge: I do not recognize u, ur court or the those who appointed u! via @BentAlmarzoooq

#NYT: #Bahrain Sentences 8 Shiite Activists to Life http://t.co/ciprZaI

#denmark authorities are requesting to visit Alkhawaja in prison http://t.co/JcCpFsI

#Guardian: #Bahrain rights activists jailed for life http://t.co/YMnLNIt

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Zainab's Twitter account of these events is here.

After the sentence was read, my father raised his fist & shouted "WE SHALL CONTINUE ON THE PATH OF PEACEFUL RESISTANCE!" they started violently shoving my father out of the court room. All I could think was "God is greater than these oppressors", so I said so as my brothers have been doing from their rooftops every night, I shouted "Allahu Akbar", until my mouth was covered by a military policeman

I was pulled out of court with my mouth covered, then taken to a room where i got handcuffed with my hands behind my back with me in the room was

Jalila, teacher who has been imprisoned for being a part of the teachers association. Her trial was be4 my fathers Jalila hadn't seen her children for 68 days, the youngest is a 5 year old. Today she saw them for the 1st time since her arrest We looked @ each other & smiled, couldn't speak with all the military police in the room

A military policeman came into the room, walking directly towards me and spat in my face. I looked away and smiled. Jalila looked v. upset
Another policeman came in & started shouting "IF ONLY WE WERE IN TEHRAN WE COULD HAVE HANGED YOU A LONG TIME AGO!"

Jalila quietly whispered "Are u Zainab", I nodded. I fely very bad for her, not seeing her children for that long broke my heart :(

R policeman started wagging his finger in my face "Today I used my hand to cover your mouth, next time I'll use something else to shut u up" I looked away from him, & did not respond, #Sharp writes to overcome fear we must understand it. I breathed deeply to get my heart rate down The policeman cntnd "If u dare show ur face @ the appeal, I will show u wat i can do to you" I noticed his hands were trembling...

I cant say I wasn't afraid but with help of God I became v. calm & relaxed. I smiled alot with Jalila to let her know I'm ok. I asked policewoman if I cd fix my scarf, she looked scared to talk to me. Jalila, who wasn't handcuffed, came over & fixed my scarf man wearing civilian clothes came into the room & asked me "Are you happy now, is this what u wanted? r u comfortable with those handcuffs"

I replied "I'm Bahraini, we're gettng used to this kind of treatment. My father is going through much worse"

"Your father is a criminal!" he said.

I looked at him, he looked away. "My father is not & has never been a criminal"

"Ur uncle is outside, do u want to go to him, or do u want us to take u" he said smiling.

"I'm the 1 in handcuffs I dont make the decisions"

He said "I want to hear u asking me to plz take u to ur uncle",

I said "no, I wont ask you for anything." He got angry & stormed out policewomen came & pulling me out, for 1st time I saw prison cells behind courtroom. I had always wondered were my father waited for court

They did not beat me, just kept pushing me into the wall. they put me in a car and took me to a police station. In police station my wonderful amazing lawyer was already waiting. Love u Reem. I went thru the same ordeal as be4, refusing to talk without my lawyer & was told AGAIN that I'm not in the US & that I watch too much TV

They let my lawyer in, I gave my statement abt what happened. Making sure I note that both me & my dad spoke after court was adjourned In the police station, me & my lawyer were v. worried when we heard a woman being beaten.

We heard screams, a man shouting @ her. was sposed to sign pledge, but it was diff, it did not say that I wud show if called. It said I take a pledge that I wont break the law there were details, I will not participate in illegal gatherings (5 or more ppl) I wont do something to disrupt the peace... and so on I refused to sign that pledge & said I wud sign one that says I will show up to prosecution if called. Didn't think it wud work, but it did.

I signed & was released.

I left the police station, for the 3rd time in less than a month. That makes it three pledges that I have signed. 1 thing that made me stronger: while being held in room, police were arguing who wud watch me & who will go 4 Ayat also there for her appeal Unfortunately, I didn't get to see our hero Ayat Alqurmuzi, but even hearing her name put a smile on my face & made me even more calm My father & those with him might be behind bars, but they are more free in spirit and mind than any of us.

I am so proud of our activists. as AlSingace always tells us, "We will be released!". I dont believe for a second that my dad & the others will spend their lives in prison the Bahraini ppl wont allow it. Becuz we will all "continue on the path of peaceful resistance" I do feel that 1 reason I wasn't beaten today is Twitter. It makes them feel exposed, they like committing their crimes in the dark.

Even after wat we went thru @ UN, it seems Mr Ban Ki-Moon still hasn't received our letter, or cud it be that UN doesn't want to respond? what happened to "promoting and protecting human rights" or are we considered less human than others by the #UN?