Thread by @MARYAMALKHAWAJA

It’s 2 am in #Bahrain:

JUST CAME! They took my dad, my dads blood is still on the stairs! They hit my dad so much! They beat him and he cudnt breath

they broke the doors, all wearing masks. They took my father and husband and brother in law.

they beat up my other brother in law mohammed almaskati, and then threw him in a room and told him not to come out

They hit me when I went after my dad

we knew they were coming, they had gone to my fathers apartment first and taken my cousin who lives in the same building

we all changed and my father told us to stay calm when they come, he told us not to interfere if they take him so they dont hurt us

we heard door of the building being broken, then the door of the apartment. my father went straight to the door, they started shouting

the one shouting didnt speak arabic, he kept telling my father to get on the floor, my father didn't get a chance to say anything

they held my father from his neck & started dragging him down the steps. they lay him on the floor between the steps & started beating him

He was covering his face while more than 5 men were beating him at the same time, I heard him say he cant breath

I ran after them & told them to stop beating him, I tried to get to my father. they held me & kept shouting at me to shutup

I said "he will go with you, you dont need to beat him" that when I saw my husband & brothers in law being dragged down

I started shouting "God will show you on Judgement day" I kept shouting "intooon 7a66ab jahanam"

One of them grabbed me form my shirt and started dragging me up the stairs, my mum was begging him to let me go

another was shouting, if she doesnt shutup bring her down too.

they pushed me, my mum & sisters in a room, n they shouted at us. one of them closed the door and then opened it real quick in my face.

then they locked the doors on us, and took the men to the lower apartment, lay them on the ground and started beating them

they kept referring to my father as "the target" and my husband "the son in law of the target"

my brother in law Mohd Almasqati who they left here saw that my father was unconscious.

When they unlocked the door, I ran down & saw drops of blood on stairs. My fathers blood, my brave heroic fathers blood

I knelt on the stairs and kissed the spot where I saw them beat him as he said he cudnt breath.

I am sitting in the mess, the door is broken and we cant close it. My youngest sister is trying to clean and weeping.

I will go sit with my mum, she keeps saying be prepared for the worse.

End

These were the tweets that my sister @angryarabiya sent out exactly 10 years ago at this time. For some, it’s been a decade, for my father and my family, its a day we live with every day, over and over again.
I read these, tweet after tweet, sitting on a train so far away

@angryarabiya It felt like when they robbed my father of oxygen, they did the same to us. Then came the severe #torture and isolation my father was subjected to.
My father, Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja, a Bahraini-Danish human rights defender, is still sitting in a prison cell today, a decade later.

@angryarabiya So many are responsible for this: the oppressive regime in #Bahrain, the #EU, #UK and #US for propping up and enabling the regime..
3650 days of cruelty and injustice, and it continues.. tomorrow it will be 3651 days.. when does it stop?

@angryarabiya My father is one of thousands of prisoners in #Bahrain, thousands of #torture survivors. #COVID-19 is spreading in the prison.. So many people killed, so many families robbed of their loved ones.
but we count: 3650 days, tomorrow it’s 3651 days

@angryarabiya My father’s jaw was broken, he had major surgery to put it back together using metal plates and screws.. they kept him blindfolded and tied to the hospital bed and tortured him.
but we count: 3650 days, tomorrow it’s 3651 days

@angryarabiya They told him while isolated that they had arrested and will rape his wife and daughter. They told him they’ll get to me too even if I’m abroad. He said that was worse than the physical torture.
But we count: 3650 days,
tomorrow it’s 3651

@angryarabiya They put him in an underground cell in solitary, took turns torturing him then making him listen to others being tortured.
But we count: 3650 days,
tomorrow it’s 3651 days

@angryarabiya My father is serving a life sentence because he dared demand rights, democracy and freedom in #Bahrain, a Gulf Cooperation Council country and a Western ally..
3650 days.. I don’t want to have to keep counting..
#Bahrain