Random Bahraini Trials: Female Poet, Child and Lawmakers to Prison

The 20-year-old poet Ayat al-Qurmezi who recited poems critical of Bahrain's rulers and who was later tortured in jail was sentenced to a year in prison, as part of the kingdom's brutality on protesters calling for rights.

She was convicted of anti-state charges, including inciting hatred, said the official Bahrain News Agency. al-Qurmezi who became a minor celebrity among protesters after reciting poems critical of the king and prime minister during gatherings in the capital's Pearl Square said: "We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery. Don't you hear their cries? Don't you hear their screams?" the poet asked.

The court's decision drew sharp denunciations from opposition groups and the human rights group Amnesty International, which said the verdict highlighted how free speech is "brutally denied" by Bahrain's authorities.
al-Qurmezi surrendered to authorities in late March after police raided the family's house and threatened to kill her brothers, said her mother. While in custody, the young woman said that she was beaten and tortured with electric shocks, Amnesty reported.
al-Qurmezi was in her second year of study toward a teaching degree at the University of Bahrain when she joined the protesters in Pearl Square.

Her mother, Sada al-Qurmezi, said an appeal is planned."My daughter did nothing wrong," her mother told The Associated Press from the family home in Sadad, a village in central Bahrain."
"By locking up a female poet merely for expressing her views in public, Bahrain's authorities are demonstrating how free speech and assembly are brutally denied to ordinary Bahrainis," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Her mother said al-Qurmezi also was expelled from university apparently caught up in government-ordered purges of thousands of students, workers and others accused of backing the protests.
"How can they do this to my daughter?" her mother asked. "Is this fair?"

In the same context, the two former parliament members, Jawad Fairooz and Mattar Mattar, also went on trial on Sunday as part of wide-ranging arrests and trials. Both are members of the al- Wefaq political group whose 18 lawmakers resigned to protest the harsh measures against protesters.

The trials also charged the youngest defendant, Mohammed Ibrahim, 15 years, and decided to eliminate all human rights by imposing a prison for six months under the pretext of his involvement with others in attacking the police.

It is expected that trials are to be completed on Monday against the "medical staff", which includes 20 staff members at the Salmania hospital.

The medical staff has been charged with "possession of weapons without a permit from the competent authority, the occupation of the hospital, the promotion of toppling and changing the system and the acquisition of medical equipment."