Jaleela Al-Salman: Democratizing Bahrain

Jaleela Al-Salman is a teacher and vice president of the Bahrain Teacher’s Association. She, along with her cellmate Roula Al-Safar, was detained for over five months for participating in the democracy movement in Bahrain.

Detained for longer than any other woman protestor, she was tortured and forced to sign a confession. Bahrain Military Courts unfairly sentenced her to three years in prison using this tortured confession.

After her release in September 2011, Jaleela told the world—through the media and in partnership with human rights organization including ours—of the torture she and others have gone through while in detention. At 3 am on October 18, 2011 masked security forces in civilian clothes broke into her house for the second time and took her away without a warrant. She was released on November 1, and continues her fight for a more democratic Bahrain. The government continues to press charges against her.