Bahraini princess faces torture charges

The state-run BBC reported on Wednesday that Noura Bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who serves in Bahrain’s Drugs Control Unit, was accused of harassing three activists in detention.

In February 2011, massive protests broke out in Bahrain, with people taking to the streets and calling for a constitutional monarchy – a demand that later turned into calls for the ouster of the monarchy.

The Bahraini regime promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring Persian Gulf states.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and security forces have arrested hundreds, including rights activists, doctors and nurses.

The 29-year-old princess was accused of torturing two doctors, Ghassan and Bassem Daif, who worked at the Salmaniya medical complex in Manama.

Medical personnel from the Salmaniya center had helped wounded protesters after Bahraini regime forces tried to forcefully disperse thousands of anti-regime demonstrators in the capital.

The princess was charged with torturing the two in March and April 2011, when many of the health workers were arrested.

Bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa also faces charges of torturing a 21-year-old girl, Ayad al-Qurmazi in March 2011, when she was detained on charges of reading her anti-Al Khalifa poem to the public during the protests in 2011.

Al-Qurmazi said she was held for nine days, blindfolded, beaten with cables and threatened with rape. Later, she identified the princess as her torturer.

She quoted the princess as saying while torturing al-Qurmazi, “The people you criticize are your masters, and they will remain in power forever, whether you like it or not.”

Bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa has denied the charges against her.