Rihanna al Mousawi, Tormented for Protest, Imprisoned on Lies

Rihanna al Mousawi, Tormented for Protest, Imprisoned on Lies
02 February, 2014

Rihanna al Mousawi was arrested last April for “planning to bomb” the FI Race. She and Nafeesa were accused by the Public Security Chief General Tariq Hassan of attempting “ a dry run to test the security measures at the F.I.” by carrying a cushion under their dresses.

What happened to her after the FI races ? She was tortured and her 16 year old son Husein was threatened with torture. She was taught a “fabricated tale” several times and beaten on her head if she made a mistake. She was threatened with rape if she changed her story and forced to stand naked in a doorway. She was interrogated for 3 hours by the Attorney Genera Fahed Albuainain and then allowed to phone her family briefly.

She suffered a further interrogation by seven hooded men holding up photos of activists including Naji al Fateel, Hadi Al Moussawi and Hisham al Sabbagh, demanding if she knew them. She was accused of going to the Lebanon to receive training in weapons. Rihanna thought she’d be accused of campaigning for the detainees at the F.I. Race. She now finds herself accused of being a member of the “14th February Coalition” a vague media group that is anti-Government.

At the first court session she bravely spoke about her torture but Judge Ali Al Deraini laughed and wasn’t interested. He allowed the prosecution to make their case, but denied the defendants or defence lawyers to say anything. The defence lawyers petitioned to have the Judge removed for bias, but failed.

The 14th February defendants were sentenced to 5 – 15 years on 25th September 2103 and are appealing. Rihanna and Nafessas have the separate case on the “bombing” charge. The next session for the 14th Feb is 27th February and the bombing charge on16th February.

Rihanna is seriously ill with cancer, has a jaw brace and is confined to a wheel chair. What can you do to help her? Demand her release and say FI Race should NOT take place in Bahrain in April 2015. Otherwise another 60 people will be tortured and jailed for our sporting pleasure.