Posted July 17, 2011 by AWMWC in Herstory

Bahraini Poet claims she was forced to stick her hands in toilets during interrogations

{jcomments on} Bahraini poet Ayat Al Qurmozi

Bahrain frees female poet but bans her from travel

Young artist who recited poem calling for king to step down among 200 prisoners released in past week

A young Bahraini poet, a student at the Bahraini Collage for teachers, sentenced to a year in prison had been released after three months detention, but she was banned from travel.

Ayat Al Qurmozi, 20, was sent to her family home in Sadad on Wednesday afternoon, a month after a military court sentenced her to a year in prison for reciting a poem entitles “a poem to Khaleefah”, mocking Bahrain’s ruler and his family and demanding the king step down during pro-democracy protests led by the Shi’ite majority in February and March. But Qurmouzi said in the poem that led to her arrest that Sunnis and Shi’ites were united against Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.

Bahrain crushed the protests and enforced a fierce crackdown in which hundreds, mostly Shi’ites, were arrested and some 2,000 people sacked from their jobs.

Bahrain TV released a video of Qurmozi a one month before the date of her release where she apologized for the rulers of Bahrain. The TV release was broadcasted during a show entitled “an open dialogue with Saeed Alhamad”

Qurmozi was among some 200 people released after months in jail. Qurmozi stepped out of her car on Wednesday to hundreds of well-wishers celebrating her release from prison, where she said she was beaten and forced to stick her hands in toilets during interrogations and that she was made to sign a paper saying she would not leave the country, not join protests and not speak to the media.