Ayat al-Ghermezi

Who is Ayat al-Ghermezi?

Ayat Hassan Mohammed Al-Qurmezi is a poet and student at the University of Bahrain Teaching Institute in Bahrain.

Al-Qurmezi became famous in Bahrain and internationally after reading out a poem criticising Bahraini government policies to the Pearl Roundabout gathering of pro-democracy protesters. After the poem was widely circulated via social media she and her family were subjected to harassment and death threats.

She was arrested and detained in conditions of secrecy, and rumours of her death in custody led to protests by Iranian activists. She was subjected to torture while in custody but was eventually tried on charges of inciting hatred of the Bahraini regime and insulting members of the royal family. International human rights organisations described her detention and trial as illustrating the brutality of the Bahraini authorities. She was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, which she was allowed to serve under house arrest.