PART ONE
LAMEES DHAIF
I've been wanting to bring people some voices directly from the protests in Bahrain as I hope it will give a much better sense of exactly what is going on there. The 14th February 2012 will see the first anniversary of the Bahraini protests and, as yet, the situation there has received pitifully little mainstream media coverage in comparison to Egypt, Libya and Syria.
There are so many people from whom I'd love you to hear and so many people who have the most incredible stories to tell, that I thought I'd try to bring you as much variety as possible. I often think that hearing real voices and hearing the emotion behind them, gives a much clearer understanding of a situation than a thousand words could and, for this reason, I thought I'd endeavor to interview some of the people at the forefront of the Bahraini protest movement in the hope that their stories will move you far more than my writing could.
And so, here is the first of my interviews, a half hour interview with one of Bahrain's most courageous women. I've written a little piece about her underneath the interview.
Maia Newley on WhoSay
Lamees Dhaif is a Bahraini journalist and activist. She has spoken out loudly against corruption in the judiciary in Bahrain as well as trying to give a voice to those Bahraini's who were so often overlooked by the more mainstream Gulf media outlets. Her work regularly brought her into conflict with the authorities and, in 2009, when she wrote a series of articles in Al-Waqt (A Bahraini newspaper) entitled "Shameful Case - The time for silence is over", which exposed corruption in the judiciary of Bahrain, she found herself summoned to the Public Prosecutor's Office on charges which had been brought by the Supreme Judiciary Council deputy. At that time, she was facing charges of "publicly insulting the National Council" and risked imprisonment if found guilty.
At that time, Lamees Dhaif said
"The charges against me are based on the 1976 Penal Code and not the 2002 Press Code, that is, on the basis that I am a 'citizen' who violated the Penal Code and not a journalist practicing my profession and tackling issues considered defamatory to the Judiciary." She went on to say: "The Public Prosecutor's Office has opened another channel by which to prosecute journalists outside of the framework of the Press Code".
However, not to be intimidated, rather than stop writing such articles, Lamees found herself even more motivated to expose corruption and wrong-doing when she came across it.
Last year, when the protests in Bahrain got underway, Lamees began chronicling them and, as she tells me in the interview :
"I went from writing one article a week, to suddenly writing three articles a day. I was not the kind of journalist that they liked, in fact they hated me."
On 17th March, 2011, Lamees was again called in by Bahraini officials, this time accused of having been involved in 'illegal' protests. She was arrested and interrogated and only allowed to leave after being forced to agree to stop writing about the protests.
As you will hear Lamees herself describe, she was subjected to many different kinds of abuse and finally she was left with little option but to leave Bahrain and live elsewhere. Even outside of Bahrain, Lamees has continues to give a voice to the protesters despite the fact that this undoubtedly still puts her at risk of harm, however she believes the risks are worth it.
In 2011 Lamees visited the United States on a State Department sponsored visit where she addressed the Netroots Nation conference during which she explained how members of her family had also been targeted by the Bahraini Government subsequent to her articles being published. Indeed, Lamees's sister, Dr Nada Dhaif, who is an oral and dental surgeon, was arrested without warrant on March 11, 2011, by masked and armed members of the Security Forces. Her elderly parents were held at gunpoint for two hours. She was detained for a period of seven weeks, during which time she suffered torture and intimidation and was made to sign false confessions while blindfolded. She was then tried by a military court and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Due to huge international outcry and pressure,Bahraini officials ordered a re-trial in a civilian court.
I will be writing more about the random detentions in Bahrain in another article but, if you'd like to know more before that, take a look at this account from Ashwaq, a 16 year old who found herself imprisoned in Bahrain, her account has been translated by @Noor_Al_bahrain . Ashwaq's account is absolutely chilling and seems typical of the accounts coming from those who've suffered similar fates.
While in still in the United States, Lamees was extremely critical of the U.S. Administration's 'betrayal' of the people of Bahrain and stated that she felt their lack of action had "given the greenlight for the people who are crushing us."
In 2011, Lamees also made the video "Shame on You" which she has subtitled in English and it outlines the Bahraini people's struggle for freedom.
This afternoon, I spoke to Lamees and asked her to share her story with me so that I could bring it to a wider audience. She was taking a great risk in speaking to me but she feels that risk is worth it, and, in her words "I can put my head on my pillow with a clear conscience if I feel I have done what I can for my people". The people of Bahrain are not asking for much from us, at the end of the interview Lamees says "We are thankful for even a small article, written on the other side of the world, because we feel so isolated. We know that people do care and we are grateful".
She is a truly remarkable woman who has endured enormous suffering for the sake of freedom, her words are both inspiring and eloquent...
Over the next few days, I will post some more interviews with those involved in the protests in Bahrain, including one from Richard Sollom, the Deputy Director of Physicians for Human Rights who will be speaking about the detention of medical professionals in Bahrain and a few more from those at the front line of the protests who will be telling me about their own experiences.
(And, yes, I know that I am pathologically unable to say the word "judicial" - apologies!)
Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 3:50 PM PT: Apols, had some technical problems yesterday when I first posted this. I've now edited it with a new link to the interview which, hopefully, should fuction much better.