The Interview with Bahrain Revolution’s Poet, “Ayat Al-Gormezi”

The Interview with Bahrain Revolution’s Poet, “Ayat Al-Gormezi”
shiapost | July 18, 2011

“When I stood in the roundabout I wasn’t intending to offend the regime, but to expose the people’s sufferings,” Ayat told Al-Manar Website, reassuring her belief that “the core of the conflict in Bahrain is not in the regime figures, but in the policy that this regime adopts.”

“We are living a crisis of trust and dignity… especially as detainees, we were exposed to the worst kinds of abuses,” Ayat said.

Nine Days under Torture, Inquiry Absurd

The revolution’s poet told Al-Manar Website about the level of torture and brutal beating that she faced in detention, indicating that “they started torturing me the moment i laid foot in the security vehicle…the security men started beating me blindly on the face. As soon as I arrived to the interrogation department, a group of men there started kicking and beating me.

“They kept me in a small room that smelled very bad… it was filthy and full of insects… and they were continuously beating me and cursing me without any interrogation,” Ayat said.

She continued: “I spent nine days of torture in the interrogation center, even though interrogations usually take only two to three days. The inquiry was absurd… the interrogator focused on reminding me that the state was paying my education fees, and that it had paid for my father’s education too. He was also pointing out that my father works in a ministry and that our house is property of the State, while barely mentioning the poem I read on the roundabout.”

“After the interrogation center, I was moved to the remand center. It was a prison for detainees that were not sentenced yet. They kept me in an isolated room for several days, due to the apparent torture marks on my face. They locked me up until the marks were gone, and then they allowed me to call my parents… I didn’t speak to my parents except after 16 days of detention,” Ayat further explained. …more