Bahrain tortured my family and many others – Britain’s loyalty to it speaks volumes

Boris Johnson may see it as a pliant and reliable base from which to project British political and economic influence abroad, but failing to condemn the country’s abuses is despicable, writes Sayed Alwadaei

‘Soldiers fired live ammunition indiscriminately into crowds and emergency doctors were jailed as traitors for treating injured protesters’ (EPA)

Nine years ago last month, the winds of the Arab Spring finally reached the Arabian peninsula, engulfing the tiny island of Bahrain in a sea of optimistic faces wrapped in the red and white national flag. Generations of Bahrainis had dreamed of living in a free country and as hundreds of thousands peacefully descended on Manama’s Pearl Roundabout, it seemed to finally be within reach.

However, what began as a dream quickly became a nightmare. Sensing their authority crumbling, Bahrain’s desperate despots called for aid. Just weeks after the protests began, troops from neighbouring Saudi Arabia were invited in to crush the fledgling revolution.

The invasion was brutal. Soldiers fired live ammunition indiscriminately into crowds and emergency doctors were jailed as traitors for treating injured protesters. Thousands of civilians found themselves arrested, tortured and carted before military tribunals on a range of spurious charges. I myself was sentenced to six months for giving an interview about police violence; a deep scar on my forehead is a daily reminder of the torture I was subjected to.