Testimonies from Bahrain: Jailed Activist\u2019s Wife Speaks Out
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\nAbdulhadi al-Khawaja and his wife Khadija
\nBy Khadija al-Mousawi, wife of imprisoned human rights defender \u2018Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.<\/p>\n
It was on a Friday when we gathered in my daughter Fatima\u2019s flat as a family \u2013 eating together, talking about politics and human rights or joking and laughing.<\/p>\n
Suddenly we heard a very loud noise. In a matter of seconds the flat door was broken in and burly, masked men burst into the room. I cannot explain how I felt at that moment, because no word in the dictionary, or in any language, can explain it.<\/p>\n
My husband had always said \u201cwhenever they come to take me, please do not interfere and I will just go with them\u201d. But he was not allowed to go peacefully. One of them grabbed him by the neck and then pulled him down the stairs by his legs. He was brutally beaten \u2013 punched and kicked in front of me and my daughters. When my eldest daughter interfered, they responded with insults and tried to arrest her too. I was torn between begging them not to take her and looking at my husband on the stairs where they were still kicking him and praying that he was ok. As if that was not enough, I suddenly noticed three masked men holding my three sons-in-law by their necks and taking them downstairs. At that point I was furious, sad and helpless.<\/p>\n
My husband was gone, but I could not show how sad I felt because my daughters were suffering after watching the arrest of their husbands and father.<\/p>\n
From that night on, our lifestyle changed. We would stay up all night, just in case the masked men decided to come back, and sleep after sunrise. We always slept fully clothed, just in case. Every sound made me jump and check the apartment was safe.<\/p>\n
Days went by and we were waiting for news \u2013 any news. We asked a lawyer to try to get any information about their condition or whereabouts. He told us that that would be fruitless since lawyers weren\u2019t being told anything about detainees. I was praying to God, \u201cPlease just keep them alive!\u201d \u2013 because after seeing how \u2018Abdulhadi was beaten, I was not sure that he had survived. My daughter decided to go on hunger strike. She was getting weaker and weaker every day. …more<\/a><\/p>\n