Bahrain's Women Doctors Tell of Assault, Threats and Torture

"“Either you cooperate and say whatever we want and we’ll treat you like a human, or you get stubborn and we beat you like a donkey.” These words were spoken to Dr Fatima Haji, a 32-year-old Bahraini doctor who was last year convicted of incitement to overthrow the Bahraini monarchy for helping injured protestors during the uprising of February 2011. Masked men had forcibly removed her from her home, seized her personal belongings and driven her to an unknown location. There, she was interrogated by strangers - her face pounded by their fists until she tasted blood. She was beaten with a hose and shocked with electric prods, then forced to behave like an animal while her interrogators humiliated her for their own amusement. Men blew in her mouth, whispered in her ear, and threatened to rape her. She was made to stand on her feet for hours."