Bahrain Special: Zainab Omran Tells Her Story of Abuse in Detention

On Friday, we published the first part of Zainab Omran's story of her detention during protests at City Centre Mall in Manama on 23 September. This is the second part of her testimony, as she and 44 other women endure abuse in several police centres:

After three hours [waiting on the road outside City Center Mall] the bus arrived to take us. They kept us in a single row. we were forced to raise our heads to be shown by one of the television broadcasters while we went in the bus.

One of my relatives and I could not believe what was happening and began to laugh when they insulted us. One of the policewomen pointed at me and said: "What is wrong with this girl? Why, she smiles a lot."

The bus accommodated 15 people. We were 21 women in addition to seven policewomen, so they sat on top of some women with children .

Women police officers began to beat us, focusing mainly on the head and the face. We received a tremendous amount of slaps and beatings. The bus was for them a  court where they can step and move on our feet and our bodies.

They forced us to scream "Long live [King] Hamad and Bu Ali [Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman]". When we were saying that, they carried on filming us. On women who refused to say this was beaten up, and one had her hijab removed.

They took us to the Exhibition Police Centre with our heads bent down. We went upstairs and they sat us against the wall. Policewomen were prevented from beating us by police officers who allowed us to enter the bathroom and drink water. They photographed and took details from us and then let us pray. In the meantime the second installment of girls, whose pictures while they were lying on the ground would become famous, came in. They were in a situation worse than ours.

They came there crying, their hands swollen from the tight chains. When security forces were finished, they moved them out  --- we do not know their destination.

We stayed in the Exhibition Police Center. The officers and policewomen took advantage of the situation. They made us stand against the wall and prevented us from sitting. Anyone who tried to take a rest was beaten.

We stayed until the ninth hour and then the bus arrived and took us to the Al-Naeem Police Center. Once we entered, I saw young guys full of blood and torn clothing.  One of them had his eye gouged out.

They took us into a large room with no air conditioning. The policewomen took my aunt's daughter to another room and started to hit and kick her. When we arrived, I took the news of some girls and how the police treated them:

1. Nada Ali, pregnant in her second month: they kept her lying on her stomach and they jumped and ran over her back until she aborted the fetus;

2. Zainab Salman Abdullah, accused of assaulting a female police officer, and her daughter received the harshest beatings;

3. Khadija Abdul Nasser, with her courage had a slogan of the martyr Ali Sheikh, so she was beaten, humiliated, and insulted;

4. Narjis Abbas was bleeding from the mouth after several slaps;

5. Bayan Hameed: face was glowing because of the face spray used against her;

6. Leila Kazem Abdullah, who has a heart condition, was abused;

7. Ashwaq Almkaba, suffering from sickle cell anemia, was later taken to a military hospital.

We stayed until dawn, and we heard the cries of young people. We were beaten, humiliated, and insulted and prevented from talking or resting.

I wanted to check on my relatives but the policewomen screamed in my face with disrespectful words and removed me. The policemen came to provoke us and shout out loud, "Returning returning / Will not kneel except to God," referring to the slogans that we always shout.

The Policewomen were merciless, tough, and inhuman. Whenever one of us screamed from pain, they laughed and said, "Goodm scream more. Get pained more and die." They prevented us from even looking at each other while we were tortured. They said to us, "Why are you are looking? You want to be in her place? Don’t worry, your turn is coming."

Policewomen were torturing us and beating us. During their break, they watched videos and scenes of demonstrations, and they got angry and came to hit us more harshly. They made us watch television of Bahrain Channel, who were presenting accusers at the time against us. They told us that we are finished and that no one is there for us and we have put ourselves in a big problem. The policewomen threatened that we will be tortured to death and no one will know anything about us.

We stayed at the police center of Al-Naeem until 4 a.m. A bus then came to take us to the general attorney for investigation. Our families did not have any information about the place we were in or what happened to us, but later we could fortunately smuggle a phone and call them to reassure them.

They grouped us so we could not meet our family members. They investigated each of us individually about the circumstances of the case. Their questions were precise and targeted, and tried to found the contradictions in what we said. Some were taken more than once for investigation because their statements didn’t match.

We finished with the general attorney at nearly 2:30 p.m. and then were taken to detention in the police center in Isa Town. Some women were tired and sick and not able to continue so they taken to the medical centre of the police station. Some small girls were taken to the children's jail while we stayed on the bus for another 2 1/2 hours.

We were all thirsty as they prevented us from drinking water. A policewomen then smuggled a water bottle for us. Some drank a drop and some did not drink.

At 4:30 p.m. we were allowed to disembark and enter the detention centre. They sat us on the ground because the place wasn’t wide enough for us. We took the papers to sign, with the charges "demonstration and incitement to hatred of the regime and the assault of the security forces", After the completion of the procedures and checking us and taking our possessions, they took us to the wards.

The arrested Asians felt sorry for us and brought us some food. Because there were so many of us, we all ate just a little.

After completion of the procedures policewomen came to inform us of instructions:

1. Wake up early at 5:00 a.m.

2. "Name check" three times a day.

Police told us that every day the role of one of the wards is to clean up the center and that tomorrow was our turn.

Two days later, one of the detained women complained of pain from severe beatings. The reply was: "Your conditions are good compared to other detained women!"

Throughout the day, we want to make a phone call and meet a lawyer and they tell us the orders did allow that yet. And we told them that the atmosphere is so cold and we cannot bear it and that we have many women sick from sickle cell anemia and our limbs are freezing, but they did not give any attention to us. 

A friend, Narjis, and I could not stay in the room and we sat in the kitchen, but they also decrease the temperature when we went there.

At dinner our talking and laughing were too loud and that made them angry as they saw our very high morale. They scream and forced us into silence.

In the afternoon, with the lack of response to our demands for a phone call and meeting a lawyer, we agreed to go on a hunger strike.

At exactly 3 p.m., they told us that they will allow us a phone call no more than three minutes and allowed our family to bring supplies to us, so we backed away from the idea of  the strike.

I made a phone call to my mother and told her that we are steadfast and well and I need some supplies.

Promptly at 5:30 p.m. they called our names and told us to bring our needs and receive our things. When we asked why, they told us that it was just a transfer to another police station. They didn’t want to see us happy, so did not let us know that we were released.

Unfortunately, the joy is not complete because not all of us are out, I loved them. They were more than friends of detention and more than freedom sisters.

We hugged warmly and kissed and said bye. They were so happy to see us released and free.

We went to the centre of the castle so they could check us for items. When it was my turn for detection, I saw some young people wounded in the other room I tried to look and check on them. One of the policewomen began to escort me because of this.

I thought that its good that I will be going out and I have to thank God and be ashamed of myself and not act in a stupidm bad behaviuor and sit and stand with silence.  

We came out from the centre. Thank God, we were released thanks to you and your big efforts, my mighty people.

We still have detained friends and we will fight and fight until the release of all:

1. Mariam Omran (my sister) has an 18-month-old daughter and a three-year-old son.  Her daughter asks every day about her.

2. Noor Aqeel Al-Ghasra, my aunt's daughter, is 20 years old. Many marks of torture are still visible on her body, after she was falsely accused of running over one of the policewomen.

3. Zainab Salman Abdullah is accused of assaulting a female police officers. Although she was  beaten, she always healed our wounds and raised our morale.

4. Narjis Abbas, the girl I loved most, the girl who was tortured until she bled from her mouth