Ayat al-Qarmezi, a Bahraini poet and university student at the Faculty of Teachers in Bahrain, sentenced to one year in prison for reading a poem, was released on July 13. Amnesty members wrote countless letters calling for her release. Ayat alleges she was beaten and tortured with electric shocks while she was imprisoned and held in solitary confinement for the first 15 days of her detention. Even though she’s been released now, there are reportedly conditions attached to her release and Amnesty International is calling on the authorities to remove any that have been imposed, to annul her conviction and to clarify her current legal status.
Amnesty International considered Ayat a prisoner of conscience and called for her immediate and unconditional release and for charges against her to be dropped. Please see here for our initial action