Ayat Al Qurmezi poem complete reading in Bahrain 2012 الشاعرة آيات القرمزي

أوركسترا الثورة البحرينية - شمعة وطن - Home's Candle

A beautiful production by the Al-Wefaq society in the form of a song highlighting the woes and demands of the Bahrainis in their struggle. Starring Ayat Al-Gormezi, in addition to other political and profession pro-democracy figures.

"The nation where the women's pen does not give up/ The men skin will not give up" Ayat 

Ayat: Main Prize First Runner-Up - Freedom to Create Awards

More info about the winners: http://www.freedomtocreate.com/prize-previous-winners


Ayat Al-Gormezi, a 20 year old poet and student at the Faculty of Teachers in Bahrain, was put on trial for merely expressing her opinion peacefully and openly. She was arrested in February 2011 because she recited a poem which criticised government policy in Pearl Square. Ayat was subjected to harassment, defamation, intimidation and threats of rape and murder whilst in prison, where she served two months of a one year sentence as the first female prisoner of conscience in Bahrain. She is currently out on bail and back with her family, although awaiting further information on future punishment.

During her detention she was whipped across the face with an electric cable, held for nine days in a tiny cell with the temperature near freezing, and was forced to clean lavatories with her bare hands. “She was jailed by a security court without any legal argument or having her lawyer permitted to speak”, said a family member who was present at her trial.

Ayat has become a symbol of resistance to repression in Bahrain, encouraging thousands of young people and women to take to the streets to express their opinions and stand up for justice. Many women believe that ‘they are Ayat’ and feel inspired by her use of creativity to demand justice and equal rights. Ayat’s bravery, courage and willingness to take a risk in the struggle for justice has raised awareness of the numerous political prisoners in Bahrain. Ayat’s call for justice was no more radical than that heard on the streets of Tunis, Cairo and Benghazi at the same time, but her severe punishment has been one of the most sinister attacks on free speech in recent times.

Freedom To Create Update

Ayat has been chosen as one of the finalists for the freedom to create award: http://www.freedomtocreate.com/ayat-al-gormezi

Main Prize - Commended 2011
Ayat Al-Gormezi, a 20 year old poet and student at the Faculty of Teachers in Bahrain, was put on trial for merely expressing her opinion, peacefully and openly. She was arrested in February 2011 because she recited a poem which criticised government policy in Pearl Square and was subjected to harassment, defamation, intimidation and threats of rape and murder whilst in prison, where she served two months of a one year sentence. She is currently out on bail and back with her family, although awaiting further information on future punishment. 
Ayat has become a symbol of resistance to repression in Bahrain, encouraging thousands of young people and women to take to the streets to express their opinions and stand up for justice. Many women believe that ‘they are Ayat’ and feel inspired by her use of creativity to demand equality, justice and equal rights.

Still standing, still speaking out!

Ayat speaking in front of hundreds of women in a female protest in Bahrain

For more photos of the revolution in Bahrain, check out this picasa album

In solidarity with the young martyr Ali Jawad Al-Sheikh

مساؤكَ عزٌ وانتصارٌ على الفنا
ونحركَ ثغرٌ في الضمائر أذّنــا
عليٌ أيا من آثر الموت خالداً
... ليشهد في الأخرى على من تفرعنا
نزلت على الأيام ضيفاً مودّعاً
وأسرعت نسراً في معانقة الهنا
هنيئاً شهيد النخل والبحر والصبا
تموت وقوفاً مائجاً لست مذعنا
وما استشهد الغيم الذي أزهر الثرى
وراح هباءاً بل سقى المجد والمنى
ملأت معانينا صموداً ورفعةً
وتوجتنا فخراً ودراً وسوسنا
وكنا وما زلنا على عادة الإبا
نموت ليحيا الدين والعز هاهنا
ألا فاقتلونا هكذا نحن هكذا
إذا ما قُتلنا نملأ الدهر والدُنا
سلاماً على الطفل الشهيد وأمه
سلام الثرى للغيث والليل للسنا
قُتلت لنحيا في الكرامة أمةً
ولم تكترث بالرعب منهم لنأمنا
وثرت وثرنا عندما اختارك الردى
قريناً إلى العلياء يا قاهر العنا
فعمتَ خلوداً يا ابن سترة والعلا
ويا هازم الإذلال والخوف والضنا
ويا أمه بل أم كل مقاومٍ
تَقَدّمك الغالي إلى الخلد مسكنا
جراحكِ بين العاصفات جراحنا
جبينك يا أم الشهيد جبيننا
وعيدكِ عيد النصر أمّا (عليُّكِ)
فكان مقيماً بل ومازال بيننا
يلوّن وجه النصر في كل مشرقٍ
وكيف يروق الفجر إلا ملوّنا
على وتر الإصرار يرقص لحنهُ
وهل يُقراُ الإصرار إلا ملحّنا
ومهما بقوا بالظلم يبقى بعزمه
يزلزل هذا الليل أن يتسلطنا
ويبقى دم الثوار يغلي بروحه
ولن ينتهي ما دام بالنصر مؤمنا
ويبقى مصير الشعب رهنٌ بكفهِ
ولن يفلح الإجرام مهما تشيطنا
وأما التواني والتراجع قد مضى
وفي عالم الأحرار ما عاد ممكنا ..

آيات القرمزي ..

On her pardon...

Posted by Ayat on Twitter, today 


عندما سمعت خبر العفو الذي لم أتأكد لحد الآن من مدى صحته ..
سافرت بي ذاكرتي بعيييداً .. هناك حيث كنت ..
ومر شريط الذكريات المؤلمة أمام عيني .. لتنتابني حالة من الذعر والهلع فور استرجاع أحد
المواقف التي ما زالت عالقة كغصة في حلقموم قلبي ..
رأيت عذرية كرامتي التي انتهكت ..
رأيت مشهد دخولي إلى ذلك المكان وهم يهللون فرحاً ويهتفون " صدنا القرمزي.. صدنا شاعرة المليون"
رأيت روعتي وأنا محاطه برجال كالذئاب يصفعني أحدهم ويركلني الآخر ..
سمعت آهاتي على إيقاع تعذيبهم .. وهم يستهزئون : "عيدي الآه بليييز عيديها "
سمعت تلك الألفاظ القذرة التي لم أسمعها في حياتي قط .. والتي أخجل من مرورها في في ذاكرتي !
رأيت دمي الذي تقاطر من أنفي إثر الصفع المستمر ..
ذكرت الكدمات البادية على وجهي عندما رأيته بعد وجبة من الملاطفات التعذيبية !
ذكرت جسدي الذي انتحل وخارت قواه بعد أيام من الوقوف المستمر !
ذكرت صراخي وأنّاتي التي أشبعت غرور الجلادين !
ذكرت أموراً منعني قلمي من كتابتها ها هنا لشدة قبحهـــا !

كل ذلك مر أمامي .. فهل ما يرجى مني الآن أن أعفو عمن أجرم بحقي؟
هل يرجى من تلك اليتيمة وتلك الثكلى وتلك الأرملة أن يعفون عمن قتل عزيزهم ؟
هل يرجى من الله سبحانه وتعالى أن يعفو عمن هدم بيوته وحرق كتبه ؟
هل يرجى من المعذبين والمعتقلين في السجون أن يعفون عمن وطأ كرامتهم برجله
هل يرجى ممن روِّعوا في غيهبان الليل أن يعفون عمن اقتحموا منازلهم ؟
هل يرجى من دماء الشهداء أن تعفو عمن هدرها؟
هل يرجى من العيد أن يعفو عمن مسخ جماله بدمِ طفلٍ ذنبه الوحيد هو الرغبة في العيش الكريم؟
هل يرجى من شعب بأكمله أن يعفو عمن اغتصب عزّته واغتال حلمه ؟

للـــــه درك يا شعب البحرين ..
عيــــدكم ثكلى تصرخ "يـــــــامنقم"

Bahrain says poet included in protest pardon

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Bahrain says a royal pardon for some protest-linked suspects includes a 20-year-old woman sentenced to a year in prison for reciting poetry critical of the Gulf nation's crackdown on an uprising. A statement Tuesday from Bahrain's information authority says the king's pardon extends to Ayat al-Qurmezi, who gained prominence for verses denouncing the attacks on Shiite-led protesters.
The statement, however, did not give the full total of those pardoned Sunday by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Al-Qurmezi was convicted in June of anti-state charges. Hundreds of people were arrested after protests began in February.
Bahrain's majority Shiite claim they face widespread discrimination by Sunni rulers.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

لــــك يا بحرين السنة والشيعـــة

Poem written by Ayat, posted by her on twitter
بحرين يا ديرتي يا أم النخل والدرر 
العيد مقبل علينا بالألم والكدر 
وأيتام عنها رحل والدها دامي النحر 
وأرزاق متقطّعة وسجون فاضت بشر
ياريت ياديرتي عيدج يعيد القدر
والعدل فوقج يعم بأفراح وسعد ونظر
ونعود كلمن يحب خله وفداه البصر
المحرقي والدرازي أهل وعزوة وذخر
والديري ويا الرفاعي قلوب حبها انتشر
وانقول راح البلا والقيد عنّا انكسر
ياليت عيدج يعود بحب وخير وظفر
سنة وشيعة أهل وأحباب ولينا الفخر
أخوان حتى الأبد خلان طول الدهر
واللي يوالي علي واللي يوالي عمر
القلوب متوالفة وماتفترق في العمر
قرآن هذا الوطن والناس كلها سور 
متجذرة مثل النخل والدر وسط البحر
محد أبد خاين وكلنا رفضنا القهر
أهواج ياديرتي ياللي أهلها نهر
من حب وطيب ووفا واحساس وعطر وزهر
والذي ماهو نجم فيها تلالا قمر
واللي يوالي علي واللي يوالي عمر
يدهون بالخير إلج بحرين في هالشهر
والعيد ويا الفرج يلفون بأحلى خبر 
ونقول عيدج مبارك كل بلدنا انتصر

BBC World Service - Outlook

Ayat Al-Gormezi, the poet who became the symbol of the protests in Bahrain, talks to the BBC about her arrest. Listen to Ayat here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00jfts2 

Independence Day

Ayat joined us, via skype, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Independence of Bahrain on Monday. She addressed a large congregation of pro-democracy supporters in London and urged us to keep supporting the detainees, just how we, the international community, helped her to be released - we can help the many others. She told us to persist on our struggle for justice, to keep campaigning for freedom and to put pressure on international media to raise awareness of many the human right abuses and violations taking place in Bahrain.

Follow Ayat on Twitter!

@AayatAlqormozi

 

Interview with Ayat

'Bahraini royal family tortures detainees'

This article was published yesterday on PressTV

Bahraini poetess Ayat al-Qurmezi says some members of the ruling Al Khalifa family have personally tortured anti-regime protesters in jails.

"There is no doubt about the government's official supervision over the torture, even some members of the ruling family personally take part in torturing detainees," she said in an interview with Al-Alam news channel on Wednesday. 

Al-Qurmezi noted that some detainees have been killed under torture. 

She was arrested on March 30 after being caught on film reading poems critical of Bahrain's ruling regime to a group of protesters at Pearl Square in the capital Manama. 

The 20-year-old poetess was released on July 13, but her sentence has not been revoked. She is currently under house arrest. 

She said that beating and electronic shocks are the most common ways of torturing in Bahrain's prisoners. 

In the latest development on Wednesday, Bahraini forces once again attacked peaceful protesters in several villages and towns surrounding the capital including Nuwaidrat, Sanabis, Eker, and Sitra. 

Anti-regime protesters have been holding demonstrations across the country since mid-February, calling on the Al Khalifa ruling family to relinquish power.

Poet's prison torture claim to be investigated by Bahraini officials

Published today in the Independent by Patrick Cockburn

Allegations of torture against the Bahraini security forces made by the student poet Ayat al-Gormezi in an interview with The Independent are to be investigated by a special committee of the Interior Ministry.

Ms Gormezi had described how for nine days she was punched and beaten with a baton and electric cable so severely that she lost consciousness. She was threatened with rape or sexual molestation, kept in a freezing cell and forced to clean a lavatory with her bare hands. She says she was told by prison guards that one of those beating her was a woman member of the royal al-Khalifa family.

Ms Gormezi's family said she was called to give a statement to the committee set up by the Interior Minister in response to the article in The Independent yesterday about how she was treated in prison after her detention on 30 March.

She had read out to a rally a poem critical of the monarchy at the height of the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain in February and March. These were ended by a brutal government crack down starting on 15 March.

Many of those detained have said they were tortured and forced to give false confessions, saying they were part of an Iranian-orchestrated conspiracy to overthrow the Bahrain monarchy.

After nine days Ms Gormezi was transferred to another prison where she was kept in solitary confinement and given medication so her injuries would be less apparent. She was then transferred to a general wing of the prison where physical mistreatment did not take place. She was unexpectedly released last week, though she has not been pardoned and was asked to sign an agreement not to take part in any protests.

International protests and ensuing bad publicity for the Bahraini monarchy led to her treatment in prison improving, according to her family.

Ms Gormezi was brought before a court on 12 June and sentenced to one year in prison, a shorter sentence than her family had feared. Last week she was called to an office in the prison and told she was to be released on the condition that she should not take part in other protests.

(رمز الصمود البحريني (آيات القرمزي

Published yesterday on http://i-14febrevolution.blogspot.com

وتستمر سلسلة الانتصارات الاعلامية وحديثنا يتجدد عن الشاعرة البحرينية آيات القرمزي ابنة العشرين ربيعاً وهي طالبة في كلية المعلمين تم فصلها تعسفياً وتعذيبها لالقائها القصائد أمام حشود المتظاهرين المناصرين للديمقراطية .

الشاعرة آيات القرمزي هي فعلاً صوت الثورة ورمز الصمود في البحرين ، يستلهم منها الشعب البحريني صموده وقوته في وجه الظالمين والجلّادين ، حيث نكست رؤوسهم في الوحل وجعلتهم يحققون مع جلاديها وإن كأن الأمر مجرد تحقيق شكلي ،المهم هنا أنها غلبت كل جلاديها ومعذبيها بأن فضحتهم عالمياً وبات القارئ لقصتها يندهش حقاً لمدى قوتها وصمودها وتحديها لإجرام هذه العصابة المستأثرة بالسلطة في البحرين ،و رغم تهديدهم لها قبل الافراج عنها من التحدث عن ضربها وتعذيبها داخل السجون الخليفية إلا أنني أظن انهم لا يستطيعون لمس شعرة واحدة منها بعد الآن ،فهم صنعوا منها قنبلة إعلامية ذات موهبة شعرية سمع ذويها العالم بأسره ،إنها بحق مصدر فخر للبحرينيين وجميع مناهضي الظلم . (إن الله مع الصابرين) ، و(إنهم يألمون كما تألمون وترجون من الله ما لا يرجون) نعم ،فالشعب البحريني هو شعب مؤمنٌ محتسبٌ لا يبتعد عن ذكر الله وهذا أمر جلي لمن يحتك بها الشعب المتماسك والذي خرج وملئ فمه وضميره هذا الدعاء :(اللهم انا نرغب اليك في دولة كريمة تعز بها الاسلام واهله وتذل بها النفاق واهله وتجعلنا فيها من الدعاة الى طاعتك والقادة الى سبيلك وترزقنا بها كرامة الدنيا والاخرة) ولن يهدأ ولن يستكين حتى يحقق أمنيته ويتقرب بها لبارئه عز وجل ،فنعم الشعب هذا الشعب ونعم الصمود صمودكِ يا آيات .الجدير بالذكر أن آل خليفة العائلة المستأثرة بالسلطة منذ حوالى 230 عام حاولت رفع قضية على "الانديبندنت" الصحيفة البريطانية الشهيرة و على وجه الخصوص الصحفي العالمي الشهير روبرت فيسك ،لمقالات وتقارير كان لها الأثر الكبير لإيصال صوت الثورة البحرينية بحقيقته السلمية الجميلة ومقابلة السلطة المجرمة بحملات القتل والتنكيل والتعذيب ،حتى ان 4 بحرينيين قد استشهدوا داخل سجون السلطة سيئة الصيت ،وفي المقابل لم تنجح السلطة باسكات الصحيفة البريطانية ،ولا حتى بارجاع سمعة العائلة الحاكمة الذي باتت ممرغة بالوحل جراء الهجوم الاعلامي "الحر". حركة المعارضة الشعبية القوية وضمنها "الوفاق الجمعية السياسية الأبرز" ،التي لم تترك الشارع بدخولها ما يسمى منتدى الحوار الوطني ،وذلك بتنظيمها تجمعات أسبوعية حاشدة بدأت بعد انتهاء "قانون الاحكام العرفية" ،وبعد تنفيذ تهديدها بانسحابها من الحوار منذ يومين ،ووصف وزير الخارجية السويدي في صفحته الشخصية "تويتر " : انسحاب الوفاق من الحوار الوطني في البحرين مقلق، والحوار لا ينبغي ان يكون "مونولوج" . وطرحت الوفاق منظورها بحكومة منتخبة ودائرة انتخابية واحدة مع برلمان كامل الصلاحيات الرقابية والتشريعية .

من جهة أخرى ،اتجه ائتلاف 14 من فبراير إلى تنظيم اعتصامات سلمية مركزية بشكل اسبوعي في مناطق مختلفة تحمل عنوان "حق تقرير المصير" وتشهد مشاركة شعبية واسعة النطاق ،ولكن هذه الاعتصامات شهدت قمع شديد من قبل السلطة حتى ان مسلسل القتل لم يتوقف ،فاختنقت زينب آل جمعة في جزيرة سترة بسبب الافراط في استخدام مسيلات الدموع والابخرة السامة ،وتتعمد مرتزقة السلطة القائها على المنازل

Take Action: call on Bahraini authorities to annul Ayat's conviction

Amnesty INTERNATIONAL

A Bahraini poet sentenced in June for reading a poem was released on 13 July. However, there are reportedly conditions attached to her release and Amnesty International is calling on the authorities to remove any that have been imposed, to annul her conviction and to clarify her current legal status.

Further Information on UA 179/11: Index: MDE 11/039/2011 Bahrain Date: 15 July 2011 Date: 14 January 2011

URGENT ACTION

bahraini poet RELEASED

A Bahraini poet sentenced in June for reading a poem was released on 13 July . However, there are reportedly conditions attached to her release and Amnesty I nternational is calling on the authorities to remove any that have been imposed , to annul her conviction and to clarify her current legal status.

Ayat al-Qarmezi, a poet and university student at the Faculty of Teachers in Bahrain, sentenced to one year in prison for reading a poem, was released on 13 July. Shortly after her release Amnesty International talked to her lawyer and family, who said that Ayat was well and happy to be free. However, her release is reportedly conditional on not travelling outside Bahrain or speaking to the media about her detention. The Military Prosecutor said that her release was at the request of the lawyer. The family received a phone call from a police station in ‘Issa Town asking them to pick up Ayat on 13 July, but without providing any further information on Ayat’s current legal status.

In February, while attending a pro-reform rally in Manama, Ayat al-Qarmezi read out one of her poems, which she said was addressed to the King of Bahrain. Its lyrics include the lines “We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery / Don’t you hear their cries, don’t you hear their screams?” Ayat al-Qarmezi was forced to turn herself over to the authorities on 30 March and was sentenced on 12 June by Bahrain’s National Safety Court of First Instance – a military court – to one year in prison for taking part in illegal protests, disrupting public security and inciting hatred towards the regime. Ayat alleges she was beaten and tortured with electric shocks while she was imprisoned and held in solitary confinement for the first 15 days of her detention.

Amnesty International considered Ayat a prisoner of conscience and called for her immediate and unconditional release and for charges against her to be dropped.

Please write immediately in English or Arabic :

Welcoming Ayat al-Qarmezi’s release but urging the authorities to clarify her legal status and to remove any conditions that have been attached to her release, as well as any other limitations currently imposed on her liberty, freedom of movement, expression, association and assembly;

Urging the authorities also to annul her conviction and to drop any pending charges against her;

Urging the authorities to immediately set up a full, independent and impartial investigation into her allegations of torture or other ill-treatment, to make its results public and to bring to justice anyone responsible for such acts;

Urging the authorities to respect and uphold the rights to freedom expression, movement and assembly in Bahrain, including the right to peaceful protest.

P LEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 15 SEPTEMBER 2011 TO :

King

Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa

Office of His Majesty the King

P.O. Box 555

Rifa’a Palace, Manama, Bahrain

Fax: +973 1766 4587

Salutation: Your Majesty

Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs

Shaikh Khaled bin Ali Al Khalifa

Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs

P. O. Box 450, Manama, Bahrain Fax: +973 17531284

Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Social Development and Human Rights

Dr. Fatima bint Mohammed Al Balooshi

Ministry of Social Development and Human Rights

PO Box 32868, Manama, Bahrain

Fax: +973 17101955

Email: info@social.gov.bh

Salutation: Your Excellenc y

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the first update of UA 179/11. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE11/031/2011/en

Poet jailed in protests claims she was beaten by Bahraini royal

Published today in the Independent by Patrick Cockburn

A female member of the al-Khalifa royal family in Bahrain has been accused of repeatedly beating the 20-year-old student poet Ayat al-Gormezi when she was in prison accused of reciting a poem at a pro-democracy protest rally criticising the monarchy.

In an interview with The Independent, Ms Gormezi, who became a symbol of resistance to oppression in Bahrain, said that although her interrogators had tried to blindfold her, "I was able to see a woman of about 40 in civilian clothes who was beating me on the head with a baton". Ms Gormezi later described her interrogator to prison guards, who, she said, promptly named the woman as being one of the al-Khalifas with a senior position in the Bahraini security service.

"I was taken many times to her office for fresh beatings," Ms Gormezi said. "She would say, 'You should be proud of the al-Khalifas. They are not going to leave this country. It is their country.' "

The guards explained that it wasnot her regular job, but she had volunteered to take part in questioning political detainees.

Ms Gormezi was detained on 30 March at her parents' house after spending two weeks in hiding when the government, backed by a Saudi-led force, started a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in mid-March. She had been targeted by the authorities after she read out a poem at a rally in February which contained the lines: "We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery. We are the people who will destroy injustice."

Addressing King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa directly, she said of the Bahraini people: "Don't you hear their cries? Don't you hear their screams?" As she finished speaking the crowd roared: "Down with Hamad!"

Subjected to nine days of torture after her detention, Ms Gormezi described how she was beaten across the face with electric cables, kept in a tiny, freezing cell and forced to clean lavatories with her bare hands. All the while, she was beaten on the head and the body until she lost consciousness. "Many of the guards were Yemenis and Jordanians," she said. The recruitment of members of the Bahraini security forces from foreign Sunni states is one of the grievances of Bahrain's Shia majority, which says it is excluded from such jobs.

In a phone interview after her release, Ms Gormezi said she does not regret reading her poem in Pearl Square, the centre of Bahrain's democratic protests in February and March. "What I said was not a personal attack on the King or the Prime Minister but I was just expressing what the people want. I have written poetry since I was a child, but not about politics. I did not think it was dangerous at the time. I was just expressing my opinion."

After the crackdown on protesters in Bahrain started in mid-March, the tall monument in Pearl Square was demolished and even the Bahraini coin showing it was withdrawn. Anybody supporting the protests was in danger of detention and torture. Ms Gormezi's family sent her to stay with relatives, which she "did not want to do. But after two weeks the security forces threatened my family and I had to give myself up. As I was taken away in a car, my family were told to pick me up at a police station the following day, so they thought it was not serious".

Her mistreatment started immediately. She said: "There were four men and one woman in the car, all wearing balaclavas. They beat me and shouted 'you are going to be sexually assaulted! This is the last day of your life!'" They also made anti-Shia remarks. "I was terrified of being sexually assaulted or raped, but not of being beaten."

The vehicle she was in, escorted by the army and police, did not immediately go to the interrogation centre but drove around Bahrain. Another woman, whom Ms Gormezi said was a member of the teachers' organisation, was arrested and put in the boot of the car. Eventually, it reached the interrogation centre, which evidently doubled as a prison. Ms Gormezi said the beatings never stopped: "Once they told me to open my mouth and spat in it." The first night she was put in a tiny cell. "It smelled awful and I could not sleep because of the screams of a man being tortured in the next cell."

The second night she was placed in another cell with the two vents for air conditioning producing freezing air. She was taken out for regular beatings. "I was very frightened," she said. "But I did not think they would kill me because every time I lost consciousness from the beatings, they called a doctor."

Surprisingly, for the first four or five days, the interrogators did not ask Ms Gormezi about reading out her poem in Pearl Square. They abused the Shia in general, saying they were "bastards" and not properly married (the accusation stems from the Shia institution of temporary marriage and is often used as an insult by Sunnis).

"When they did ask me about the poem, they kept saying: 'Who asked you to write it? Who paid you to write it?'" Ms Gormezi said. They insisted she must have been ordered to do so by Shia leaders in Bahrain or was a member of a political group, which she denies.

The interrogators also kept saying she must owe allegiance to Iran. An obsessive belief that Shia demands for equal rights in Bahrain must be orchestrated by Tehran has long been a central feature of Sunni conspiracy theorists. "They kept asking me: 'Why are you loyal to Iran? Why are you not loyal to your own country?'" Ms Gormezi said. "I said it was nothing to do with Iran. I am a Bahraini and I was only trying to express what the people want."

After nine days in the interrogation centre, Ms Gormezi was taken to a second prison in Isa town in Bahrain. For a week she was in solitary confinement and was given medication so the signs of her beatings were less visible. She was then taken to a more general prison where physical mistreatment stopped and there were four other women. "After 16 days they let me talk to my family," she said. "It was meant to be for three minutes but they let me talk for 10. Once they took me back to the first interrogation centre to record a video apologising to the King."

International protests and ensuing bad publicity for the Bahraini monarchy led to her treatment improving, according to her family. Ms Gormezi was brought before a court on 12 June and sentenced to one year in prison, a shorter sentence than her family had feared. Last week she was called to an office in the prison and told she was to be released on the condition that she should not take part in other protests.

Tortured in prison

BBC Arabic: Report on Ayat's release

Video report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/multimedia/2011/07/110715_bahrain_prisoner.shtml