My friend disappeared, not on msn, not on Facebook, I kept what’s-upping him he wouldn’t reply, but the fact that the messages were marked as read assured me that he’s fine. He’s probably busy I thought to myself. Then he showed up on Facebook, logged out too fast, damn I missed him by a second! Oh well, if he was on Facebook then he must be all right, he’s just busy, I reassured myself. I was busy too you know, don’t judge me! Although I feel like such a bad friend right now, but I really was busy. The situation continued, until a few hours ago, when I noticed him online on my msn list, “Great, finally” I thought and I said “X?” but it wasn’t X who replied, the answer came “his sister”, something is not right! “Where is he? is he okay?” I asked, she answered that he’s fine, and that he’ll be back soon. Wait a minute, back from where? I asked about where he was, she replied with a smile face, the dull smiley face msn messenger has. That’s when it struck me, she didn’t even have to say a word, I immediately asked when, she answered that it was 2 weeks ago. My friend has been in prison for 2 weeks? The horrible stories I’ve heard about torture in Bahraini prisons are all coming back to me right now. What are they doing to him? Is he all right? So many questions I couldn’t find answers to. I felt that his sister was either too upset or too scared to mention details of the arrest, so I just stopped asking questions. I have no idea why he was arrested or how, on what charges, no idea at all. I keep wondering if he’s getting proper food, he sure loved to eat. He’s a funny guy, very nice, keeps to himself, he didn’t do anything wrong at all, he might have joined protests, which is not wrong or illegal, and they have no way to prove it even if it was illegal according to them. So like many Bahrainis today, my dear friend is behind bars for no valid reason at all.

So that’s how things go around here. Your close friends disappear, you call them and get no answers, you text them and they don’t reply, you wonder what’s going on, only to find out later they got arrested. That’s my story in brief, one of many others in Bahrain, just a random story of a random person.

Bahraini political prisoners are allowed absolutely no visits and 1 very short call (hardly a minute). Some of them are held for weeks before they even know what the charges against them are, normally some fabricated absurd charges that make no sense. They are subject to horrible torture by police and I even heard stories of rape! When will this end?

الحاج عباس. الغريب الصديق. رجل كبير في السن يبيع الماء عند إشارة مرورية! رجل يقف تحت شمس البحرين الحارقة ويعطي العطاشى في سياراتهم المكففة ومن وراء نافذات سياراتهم الداكنة. يمشي بهدود، يمشي عارجاً، يمشي ببساطة ويبيع الماء لمن في عمر أحفاده.
أسميه الغريب الصديق لأن عدد المرات التي رفعت يدي بالشكر له لعدم رغبتي في الشراء لا تُحصى. أسميه الغريب الصديق لأنني رأيته أكثر من رؤيتي لبعض من يعتبر قريباً لي. يا صديقي، ها أنا أسمع بإعتقالك وأتحسر على كل مرة رفعت يدي نافياً رغبتي في الشراء منك. حسرةً على كل مرة لم أكلمك فيها وأسألك عن حالك.
ليس لدي تأكيد على إعتقالك، وأتمنى عدم صحة الخبر. ولكن لا تزال تستحق هذه الرسالة. لأنك رجل شريف تعمل دون كلل وملل حتى وإن تقدم بك العمر. لأنني تعودت على رؤيتك تمر ما بين السيارات لتبيع قطرة ماء. لأنك رجلُ بريء يجسد كل الإنتهاكات. هذه الرسالة لك ولكل شرفاد هذا الوطن. لأنك تجسد كيف يعمل المرء في هذا البلد ويزخ العرق منه ليكافئ بالقيود في النهاية. يا عمي، يا إبن وطني، إن رأيتك في المرة القادمة سأقبل رأسك الحر. يا إبن وطني، إن كنت حراِ أتمنى إن تصلك هذه الرسالة وتعرف قيمتك لوجه حفظ ملامحك قبل أن يعرف إسمك. وإن كنت ولا سمح الله معتقلاً، فاللهم فك قيده وقيد كل أسير.
هذه قصة واحدة، من قصص البحرين الجريحة. المزيد قادم.

Al Haj Abass, the friendly stranger

An old man sells water next to the traffic lights.
A man who stands under the burning sun of Bahrain, handing water to the thirsty drivers who are sitting behind their tinted windows.
He limps slowly and walks simply.
And sells water for people who are the same age as his grandsons.

I call him the friendly stranger.
Because the number of times I raised my hands saying “no thanks” is uncountable.
I call him the friendly stranger because I saw him more often then I saw my own relatives.
Oh my dear friend I heard you have been detained, I feel sorry for every time I raised my hands saying no thanks, refusing to buy your water and refusing to ask how are you.

I’m not sure if you are detained or not.
And I wish it’s not true.
But still you deserve this message
Because you are an honest man who works hard even when are old in age.
Also because I get used to see you sailing those drops of water among cars.
Because you are the man provoking all violations.

This message is for you and for all the honest men of this country.
You symbolize how a person works in this country and sweat to be rewarded with restrictions in the end .
To you my uncle and to you the son of my country.
If I see you the next time I will kiss your forehead.
My son of my country.
If you are free I wish for you to see this message to realize the value of knowing the songs of your face before your name.
And if you were detained and a prisoner, I ask Allah to set you free and set every prisoner in this country free.

This was one story from Bahrain and more to come.

[Editor's Note: This video has been sourced from an anonymous YouTube account, and specific details cannot be confirmed. The exact date of filming cannot be confirmed, however the publish date appears to be April 30, 2011.]

[Editor's Note: This video has been sourced from an anonymous YouTube account, and specific details cannot be confirmed. The exact date of filming cannot be confirmed, however the publish date appears to be April 28, 2011.]

[Editor's Note: This video has been sourced from an anonymous YouTube account, and specific details cannot be confirmed. It is unclear what date the incident occurred, however this version of the video was published to YouTube on May 1, 2011. According to the individual who submitted the video to Alive in Bahrain the video shows: "Bahraini police forces beat and arrest Al-wefaq photographer. as the video shows he beaten by police in uniforms and others in civilian clothing and was taken into a civilian vehicle and not police jeep. "]

[Editor's Note: This video has been sourced from an anonymous YouTube account, and specific details cannot be confirmed. It alleges to be images of Bahrain police and unknown individuals in plainclothes engaged in operations in Al Deer village on April 29, 2011]

It simply breaks my heart, that people are there are actually celebrating this unjust death sentence. It breaks my heart that fellow Bahrainis that we have lived with, worked with and probably shared happy and pleasant moments with are celebrating a death sentence to 4 innocent young Bahraini men! Where are we headed to? This government has used the divide and conquer rule so very well, they have spread so much hate! Are we damaged beyond repair?
How are Bahrainis living together with one side mourning their dead and another side cheering for the murderer? It’s a huge disappointment, it’s the shock of my life, I never thought people would actually go this far. Should I really believe this? I don’t know. So, I have come up with a theory though, that this is government doing, they are trying to increase the hate inside of us, to feed our rage, to widen the gap between Bahraini citizens. And I decided not to allow them to succeed, I refuse to believe that normal Bahraini citizens are doing this, simply because Bahrainis are too kind at heart to do it! I wish people would see behind the government lies and propaganda, and wake up! The regime benefits and feeds its power from our divide, because in our unity we can get our democracy and freedom.

Bahrain’s revolutionists have different and diverse levels of demands. Maybe this diversity is what makes us so special. I will explain my demands and how they have developed with the government’s behavior.

On Feb 14th, I wasn’t even in Bahrain, I was away for 3 days when all this started. My perception for what we wanted as citizens was a better life, solutions for unemployment and housing problems, putting an end to naturalization and things of this sort. And I was told that the revolution started with very simple reform demands too, but after being met with such force and cruelty everything changed. We already knew this, but the government’s actions only assured us more, that we have no freedom whatsoever in this country. We were not allowed to demand anything, or speak up against the government, it was some kind of taboo. Angered by this assurance, I started thinking we need dignity first, we need freedom first, before we could demand our rights to jobs or such things that seemed to be so simple now. The story is, all the issues in Bahrain such as poverty, unemployment, naturalization and more are a result of the absolute power the royal family has over this country. So now, we needed to be free of this power, we needed to limit their power, because they don’t own this country neither do they own us. The demands then moved to a constitutional monarchy along with other demands like investigations in the huge lands owned by the royals, more emphasis on the naturalization issues and more importantly sacking the prime minister. The prime minister Khalifa has been in his position for 40 years, it’s quite known in Bahrain that he has taken from this country’s wealth more than anyone should and we just had enough of it. Some opposition members demanded a republic, but I was totally against that, I thought it was exaggerating.

The new demands were met with harsh force and brutality as people have witnessed through youtube videos and reports on TV. Then the Saudi forces came in complicating things even more! more people were killed, hundreds of Bahraini citizens were arrested and hundreds more lost their jobs because of their religious sect and political opinion. The government started demolishing shiite mosques with the excuse that they weren’t authorized, and claims they demolished a couple of sunni ones too to validate their argument. Another important point to mention is brutal torture in Bahrain’s prisons which was proved after 4 prisoners died behind bars in less than 2 weeks, and their bodies showed signs of terrible torture. With all this happening, I can only believe that the king and prime minister of Bahrain are brutal criminals that should be punished for their actions. They no longer deserve to be the royal family of Bahrain. I would still settle for a constitutional monarchy as my main demand, where we could elect a prime minister and be fairly represented in the government. And my other demands would be putting an end to political naturalization and investigating the lands owned by royals and getting back our rights from them. But it is my dream, that these criminals would be punished for their bad deeds, I call it a dream because right now it seems so far from happening specially because the US government is turning a blind eye to what’s going on here simply because our king is their ally.

One of the most difficult moments of my life, was when I found my beloved mother’s picture on a Facebook page, that claims to expose “traitors” of the country! These pages have become very popular in Bahrain recently. They are started by pro-government people who post pictures from rallies, protests and gatherings related to the recent uprising and they ask for names and personal information about the people in the pictures. Some people submit more pictures of people they already know with their names and information, and identify people from the pictures displayed. Some of the people who were supposedly exposed on these pages really got arrested by the government forces. Even though my mother’s name was not written, it was a very clear picture and anyone who knows her will identify her and write her name down. I felt my world fall apart, crying hysterically and tweeting to people to report this evil page, while reporting my mom’s picture several times. I kept reporting the picture till it completely vanished from the page. I felt a rush of momentarily relief, only to be reminded that whoever has this picture, can simply upload it again. My mother is no activist, she didn’t do anything, she’s a regular person, a housewife, a Bahraini citizen who demanded her rights and a lovely mother. I can never imagine her in Bahraini prisons. The thought is simply driving me crazy. I am now haunted by a picture of my mother in a peaceful protest.

A group of Bahraini people decided to start a 3-day hunger strike. And so I’ve decided to join.Here are the reasons why I feel I have to do this:

1. Moral support for Mohammed Al-Daaysi and Zainab Al-khawaja who went on hunger
strike to protest the arrest of some of their family members.

2. To protest the arrest of hundreds of Bahraini citizens just because they protested fortheir rights.

3. To protest the torture of prisoners in Bahraini prisons. Torture is inhuman and is notacceptable under any circumstances. It has to stop immediately. Four Bahraini citizensdied in prison and their bodies showed signs of torture.

4. To demand the stolen rights of the political prisoners. They are not allowed to contacttheir families, no visitations and do not have lawyers. There were no arrest warrenspresented and no reasons at the time of their arrest.

5. Hundreds of Bahraini citizens where sacked from their jobs because of their politicalopinions and because they participated in anti-government protests. And after thismore Bahraini families will be going to bed hungry because they can’t afford dinneranymore.

6. Because Bahrain is not a safe place. You can get arrested, shot at, suffocate by tear-gasany time in shiite villages.

7. Because there is no other form of protest that I can do now in Bahrain and not get arrested, and if I am to end up in the hospital because of this I might get arrested because the ministry of interior must be informed if I get IV drip.

8. I only have freedom of speech and expression in Bahrain as long as I do NOT speak against the government or royal family in any way.

9. Because University of Bahrain dismissed 200 students for political reasons and promises to dismiss more.

10. Because the murderers of our beloved martyrs are still free and remain unpunished.