How «Zainab al- Khawaja» broke the victims’ siege?
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2012-12-12 - 3:10 م
Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): for the 12th time, human rights activist "Zainab al-Khawaja," was arrested; this time from Salmaniya Hospital; during her attempt to break the siege of the injured detainee "Aqeel Abdul Mohsen," who was shot by civilians with live and birdshot bullets in the face from a distance of half a meter on December 4th, in his village "Bani Jamra."
Zainab ;daughter of well known human rights activist "Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja," got arrested by a variety of ways, since the start of the revolution on February 14, and she became an icon of this revolution. She got arrested for the first time from the headquarters of "the United Nations", on June 15th, 2011, during a sit-in which was carried out with two other activists "Sawsan Parveez" and "Asma Darwish", to call upon the international community to press for the release of "political prisoners." This arrest lasted 7 hours, and then days later, on June 22nd, 2011, Zainab got arrested again, but from the military court, during the sentencing hearing on her father, after she shouted "Allah is Great", in response to the cheers of her father, and she was released on the same day.
On November 26, 2011, Al- Khawaja was arrested for the third time, when she refused to back down in front of the security forces that were violently attacking a march in "Aali". She stood with her hands up in front of a police vehicle, to be detained and disappeared, and then released on the same day as well.
In an illustrated incident, she strongly raised the local and international public opinion, where the Ministry of Interior claimed they would investigate, the security forces dragged "Zainab" on the ground, and forcibly pulled her to the police car, that after being fired over her head with tear gas and stun grenades, while she was sitting alone in the roundabout of "Abu Saiba," in "occupy Budaiya Highway" event, on December 15, 2011.
It is not the first time where Zeinab got assaulted, she was slapped by a security officer when she tried to rescue a protester in Manama in one of the marches of the activist "Nabeel Rajab,” She was also "pepper" sprayed in her eyes at another rally in Manama, and got spat at on her face from the security forces during her detention in the military tribunal. She was also beaten by police officers in several police stations, in front of the Ministry of Interior building, and in the military hospital.
Zainab was released after 5 days, but on the February 12, 2012, and during intensive events held to mark the first anniversary of the start of the revolution, al- Khawaja was arrested for entering the "Pearl Roundabout," and breaking the security siege imposed then for more than 11 months. By the way, the court specifically ruled today to arrest her in this case for a month, and to pay a hundred dinars bail, for accessing a “restricted area"!
Zainab was released in that case after 8 days of detention. In April 2012, Al- Khawaja got arrested 4 consecutive times in one month, during the period when the status of her father on hunger strike got worse. On April 5th, "Zainab" protested in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior building "the Fortress", in the capital Manama, where her father was transferred to the "Fortress" clinic for medical care after his health worsened. Zainab stood at the Fortress gate, and in a tragic photographed scene, called her father loudly. She was assaulted by a police officer and then accused of assaulting him!
Zainab was arrested, and then released on April 7 , 2012, but was arrested again on the same day, when she went directly to try again to visit her father in the "military hospital" in Riffa, where he was transferred for deteriorating medical condition. Zainab was forbidden from meeting her father, and accused of assaulting a police officer again, and arrested again, to be released few hours later.
On April 20th, Zainab was arrested again from the "military hospital", as she insisted on visiting her father, and then she was released later. The next day, April 21,2012, and during the sit-ins of anti-"Formula" race, Al- Khawaja organised a solo protest in the middle of the highway near "Bahrain Financial Harbor" in Manama, to protest the continued detention of her father, to be arrested again and again.
This time Al Khawaja spent a long time in prison. She was released on May 29th, 2012, and she continued to participate in protests heavily. She was shot directly at her leg in a protest in “Buri", which caused a fracture in her leg on June 2012. This did not prevent her from protesting, and this time solo again; she protested at “Al-Qadam” roundabout on Budaiya highway and got arrested again on August 3rd, 2012.
On October 3rd, 2012, "Zainab al-Khawaja" was released , after spending some more time in detention by court order, despite the ongoing trial in several other cases, a total of 14 cases.
Then during her attempt, along with other activists, to break the unprecedented siege on "Al-Aker" area, on October 21, Zainab was arrested again, and released hours later.
Finally, in "Salmaniya" medical hospital this time, Zainab sneaked yesterday, to the room of the injured detainee "Aqeel Abdul Mohsen," who is being hospitalized under the siege imposed from the security forces, where not even his family are allowed to visit, after they police conducted a failed attempt of murder of an activist , where Aqeel was its victim.
Zainab was able to access “Aqeel", to tell the rest of his tragedy: "he opened one eye, and he saw me”, I asked him about the situation, and he replied by moving his finger:"no!”. Zainab sat inside the hospital by “Aqeel’s” room and protested against all this inhuman treatment, and got arrested several times that doesn’t seem to end.
It’s Zainab, who broke the siege of everything!
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