{"id":11837,"date":"2012-08-16T08:48:58","date_gmt":"2012-08-16T15:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=11837"},"modified":"2012-08-16T08:48:58","modified_gmt":"2012-08-16T15:48:58","slug":"bahrain-said-yousif-almuhafda-statement-upon-release-from-moi-kidnapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=11837","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain: Said Yousif Almuhafda – Statement upon release from MOI kidnapping…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Statement from Said Yousif Almuhafda on his detention<\/strong>
\nBy admin – 16 August, 2012 – Bahrain Justice and Development Movement<\/p>\n

Said Yousif holds a banner in support of detained Nabeel Rajab<\/p>\n

Leading Bahraini human rights activist Said Yousif Almuhafda was yesterday beaten by Bahraini police, infront of his two young daughters, before being detained for 3 hours. It is the latest in a wave of attacks against human rights and opposition activists, with Nabeel Rajab and Zeinab Alkhawaja still behind bars until now.<\/p>\n

Said Yousif gave us a full account of his harrowing ordeal from the moment he was stopped by police. He said, \u201cI was driving in the street close to Zayed City when I was stopped by traffic police, in the middle of the highway. I was told that I was wanted after being identified at the checkpoint in A\u2019ali. A police car then arrived (numbered 6054) and 4 officers punched and slapped me infront of my daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then describes what happened when another police car (numbered 5415) arrived. \u201cA traffic policeman forcibly took my phone from me, whilst another was inspecting my car. They found a banner with a picture of Nabeel Rajab and asked me who it was. I told them it was Nabeel and they told me to say \u2018no this is our whore\u2019. When I refused to speak such language, especially infront of my children, I was punched twice in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst thing and what hurts me the most was that this took place in front of my daughters\u201d<\/p>\n

After this shocking level of abuse a policeman drove his car to a checkpoint \u201cat very high speed\u201d. He said, \u201cI called my wife to pick up my daughters and was then accompanied by force to the central police station. There they took my testimony and confiscated two banners than had been in my car. I was held for 3 hours in total without any access to a lawyer or any warrant being presented for my arrest. Before I was released I was forced to sign a pledge that I would return to the police station when summoned, again without a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst thing and what hurts me the most was that this took place in front of my daughters (5 and 2 years old). They were crying throughout the ordeal and were very scared about what would happen. Children should never be forced to witness such brutality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The violent attack and detention of Said Yousif is another worrying reminder of the treatment faced by human rights activists in a country that claims to respect the values of human rights. It raises serious questions over the impunity that police officers act with and the clear lack of concern they have of being brought to justice for consistent harassment. The personal identifying of Said Yousif suggests a high level of official collusion in the attack and is further evidence of the systematic nature of the violence of the Bahraini authorities. The authorities have not issued any statement on the incident. …source<\/a><\/p>\n

[Excerpted from Twitter following release from MOI kidnapping]<\/strong><\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now I\u2019ll tweet about what happened to me and the way I was arrested tonight #Bahrain. <\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was in the street adjacent to the checkpoint near Zayed City when I was stopped by traffic police in the middle of the highway #Bahrain<\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

They said I\u2019m wanted by A\u2019ali checkpoint, when police car numbered 6054 arrived 4 of them beat, punched &slapped me in front of my daughters<\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another police car numbered 5415 arrived and a traffic policeman took my phone by force, another was inspecting my car .. CONTD #Bahrain<\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

They found a banner of Nabeel Rajab and asked who\u2019s this? I told them &they said no say this is \u201cour whore\u201d I refused &they punched me twice. <\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then a member of mercenaries drove my car with a very high speed to a checkpoint &I called my wife to pick up my 2 little daughters #Bahrain<\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was given 2 traffic tickets as a gift for my rights work, one said I know you &I\u2019m not afraid of you! another said we\u2019ll show you #Bahrain<\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then drove my car to the central police station where they took my testimony & member of the police station stole 2 banners from me #Bahrain<\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

They made me sign a pledge without the presence of a lawyer to come to the police station in case I was summoned ! #Bahrain<\/p>\n

S.Yousif Almuhafda \u200f@SAIDYOUSIF<\/strong><\/p>\n

My arrest was arbitrary and without a warrant from public prosecution #Bahrain<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Statement from Said Yousif Almuhafda on his detention By admin – 16 August, 2012 – Bahrain Justice and Development Movement Said Yousif holds a banner in support of detained Nabeel Rajab Leading Bahraini human rights activist Said Yousif Almuhafda was yesterday beaten by Bahraini police, infront of his two young daughters, before being detained for more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[3376],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11837"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11847,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837\/revisions\/11847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}