Facts on the Torture of A Bahraini Journalist
Bahrain Mirror- Exclusive
Naziha Saeed, a Bahraini journalist who works for the French Channel France 24 and the Monte Carlo radio station, was summoned last Sunday, the 22nd of May to the Rifa'a Police Station, South of the Bahraini Kingdom. There, she stayed for 12 hours before she was released. But Naziha, who saw freedom again was not the same person, she has changed...forever!
Naziha arrived to the police station, after she had received a phone call in which she was asked to go there. Upon arrival, a cloth black bag was place over her head, and she was taken inside to a group of female police investigators.
The investigation started on whether she has been to the Lulua (Pearl) Square, which was the station of revolutionary protesters in Bahrain. Her answer was positive, a ‘yes'. As a journalist, being there was part of her duty. Straightaway, hard whacks showered Naziha's face without any mercy. One of the torturers grabbed a plastic hosepipe and started whipping Naziha and hitting all over her body until she fell to the floor. The torturers started to kick her, mock her, cursed and ridiculed her using sectarian expressions such as "You sons of Muta'a [temporary marriage]".
Naziha spent twelve hours in that place, ten of which she was subject to beating. Naziha was then dragged, and the torturers started to hit her with the plastic hosepipe on her hands, feet, and body, they drained all her energy, and she grew powerless. Naziha was then seated on a chair opposite to the way people usually sit, her back was facing the torturers, as they brutally hit her on her back. They started to insult her again, only with more obscenity this time.
When the torturers saw that Naziha's situation has become difficult [she grew extremely weak], one of them approached a bottle to Naziha's mouth and asked her to drink. As Naziha was about to drink from that bottle, one of the torturers sarcastically said "This is urine, so you want to drink?!"
Naziha then moved her mouth quickly, but the torturers poured the liquid of that bottle on her face, inflaming her facial skin right away. Naziha's skin was badly inflamed, even after she was out...her face has changed.
The torturers in the Rifa'a Western [Police] center had not had enough of their brutality. One of the torturers pulled Naziha from her hair all the way from the room to the bathroom telling her "If you do not like urine, there is something else for you here". Simultaneously as Naziha was being tortured, nurses were also summoned to the Rifa'a center and were subjected to torture. Women's rights were being totally violated, right next to the location where the Woman's Highest Council -headed by the King's wife- was located.
Women's rights have been drained in Bahrain since the 14th of February until this very moment, in light of blatant silence of this Council as well as all Women's committees and Associations in Bahrain.
After the ten hours of torture ended, the journalist Naziha Saeed was forced to sign documents under threat and beating, without knowing any of the content of these documents. Then, she was taken to see a major officer, who coldly asked her "What happened to you?"
The officer demanded Naziha not to speak of what had happened in fear of the police station's reputation in Rifa'a area! And that... was a disguised threat to the journalist.
After she was out, head of Public Relations in the Bahraini Interior Ministry, Mohammad bin Deenah called Naziha Saeed, asking her on how is she doing. Naziha couldn't help it anymore and told him what had happened. As usual, bin Deenah performed the ‘procedures' play, telling her this is a something the Interior Minister Rashed bin Abdallah totally refuses. He asked Naziha to do some medical tests particularly at the Interior Ministry's coroner. Naziha did the tests, the results are not delivered yet, but everyone knows what these will be beforehand. Following every test and every medical examination of every prisoner, this doctor says: there are no signs of torture!
The French embassy in Bahrain called Naziha, since she has been reporting for French media. When the delegates of the embassy saw Naziha, her state was harsh. Naziha could barely walk! Her facial skin was inflamed; the torturers had poured that liquid on her face, in addition to other clear signs of torture in several places in her body. The embassy decided to take Naziha to France for treatment. Her safety was in jeopardy, and no one knew if she was going to be summoned again. No one knows what are the documents she was forced to sign under all that pressure and torture, or if the [Bahraini] regime will send her later to military court for prosecution.
Naziha's only mistake is that she lived a story that took place on the 17th of February 2011. On that day, particularly at dawn, the army and police forces attacked the protesters in the Lulua (Pearl) Square. Naziha happened to see with her own eyes: a security officer aiming the rifle's muzzle at the head of a man in his sixties, that man was Ali Abdel Hassan. The officer shoots the bullet and Abdel Hassan's brain splashes on the walls.
Naziha then, went and presented a testimony before the Official Investigation Committee, which the king had established to investigate in the acts of murder. Naziha told them "I saw a security man killing a protestor right in front of me; he pointed the gun at his head directly." The testimony was over. It was folded, and kept in the drawer of the Vice Prime Minister Jawad Al Arid; head of the investigation committee. And there, along with the testimony, Naziha's name was kept as well... to take revenge on her some time later!
Naziha Saeed, a Bahraini journalist who works for the French Channel France 24 and the Monte Carlo radio station, was summoned last Sunday, the 22nd of May to the Rifa'a Police Station, South of the Bahraini Kingdom. There, she stayed for 12 hours before she was released. But Naziha, who saw freedom again was not the same person, she has changed...forever!
Naziha arrived to the police station, after she had received a phone call in which she was asked to go there. Upon arrival, a cloth black bag was place over her head, and she was taken inside to a group of female police investigators.
The investigation started on whether she has been to the Lulua (Pearl) Square, which was the station of revolutionary protesters in Bahrain. Her answer was positive, a ‘yes'. As a journalist, being there was part of her duty. Straightaway, hard whacks showered Naziha's face without any mercy. One of the torturers grabbed a plastic hosepipe and started whipping Naziha and hitting all over her body until she fell to the floor. The torturers started to kick her, mock her, cursed and ridiculed her using sectarian expressions such as "You sons of Muta'a [temporary marriage]".
Naziha spent twelve hours in that place, ten of which she was subject to beating. Naziha was then dragged, and the torturers started to hit her with the plastic hosepipe on her hands, feet, and body, they drained all her energy, and she grew powerless. Naziha was then seated on a chair opposite to the way people usually sit, her back was facing the torturers, as they brutally hit her on her back. They started to insult her again, only with more obscenity this time.
When the torturers saw that Naziha's situation has become difficult [she grew extremely weak], one of them approached a bottle to Naziha's mouth and asked her to drink. As Naziha was about to drink from that bottle, one of the torturers sarcastically said "This is urine, so you want to drink?!"
Naziha then moved her mouth quickly, but the torturers poured the liquid of that bottle on her face, inflaming her facial skin right away. Naziha's skin was badly inflamed, even after she was out...her face has changed.
The torturers in the Rifa'a Western [Police] center had not had enough of their brutality. One of the torturers pulled Naziha from her hair all the way from the room to the bathroom telling her "If you do not like urine, there is something else for you here". Simultaneously as Naziha was being tortured, nurses were also summoned to the Rifa'a center and were subjected to torture. Women's rights were being totally violated, right next to the location where the Woman's Highest Council -headed by the King's wife- was located.
Women's rights have been drained in Bahrain since the 14th of February until this very moment, in light of blatant silence of this Council as well as all Women's committees and Associations in Bahrain.
After the ten hours of torture ended, the journalist Naziha Saeed was forced to sign documents under threat and beating, without knowing any of the content of these documents. Then, she was taken to see a major officer, who coldly asked her "What happened to you?"
The officer demanded Naziha not to speak of what had happened in fear of the police station's reputation in Rifa'a area! And that... was a disguised threat to the journalist.
After she was out, head of Public Relations in the Bahraini Interior Ministry, Mohammad bin Deenah called Naziha Saeed, asking her on how is she doing. Naziha couldn't help it anymore and told him what had happened. As usual, bin Deenah performed the ‘procedures' play, telling her this is a something the Interior Minister Rashed bin Abdallah totally refuses. He asked Naziha to do some medical tests particularly at the Interior Ministry's coroner. Naziha did the tests, the results are not delivered yet, but everyone knows what these will be beforehand. Following every test and every medical examination of every prisoner, this doctor says: there are no signs of torture!
The French embassy in Bahrain called Naziha, since she has been reporting for French media. When the delegates of the embassy saw Naziha, her state was harsh. Naziha could barely walk! Her facial skin was inflamed; the torturers had poured that liquid on her face, in addition to other clear signs of torture in several places in her body. The embassy decided to take Naziha to France for treatment. Her safety was in jeopardy, and no one knew if she was going to be summoned again. No one knows what are the documents she was forced to sign under all that pressure and torture, or if the [Bahraini] regime will send her later to military court for prosecution.
Naziha's only mistake is that she lived a story that took place on the 17th of February 2011. On that day, particularly at dawn, the army and police forces attacked the protesters in the Lulua (Pearl) Square. Naziha happened to see with her own eyes: a security officer aiming the rifle's muzzle at the head of a man in his sixties, that man was Ali Abdel Hassan. The officer shoots the bullet and Abdel Hassan's brain splashes on the walls.
Naziha then, went and presented a testimony before the Official Investigation Committee, which the king had established to investigate in the acts of murder. Naziha told them "I saw a security man killing a protestor right in front of me; he pointed the gun at his head directly." The testimony was over. It was folded, and kept in the drawer of the Vice Prime Minister Jawad Al Arid; head of the investigation committee. And there, along with the testimony, Naziha's name was kept as well... to take revenge on her some time later!
