Bahrain: Reports of Military Personnel Tortured, Imprisoned, and Killed by Regime · Global Voices
Mona Kareem

This post is part of our special coverage Bahrain Protests 2011.
Release our activists, release our students, release our medics, release our women, release our teachers, and now release our military personnel. All of these are Twitter campaigns that Bahraini netizens have been pushing for to create awareness about the different segments targeted by the Bahraini regime since protests started on February 14.
Activists say there are scores of military and police personnel who have been arrested and trialed in military courts during the unrest for refusing to shoot protesters, sending text messages, attending funerals, protesting, or just for being members of the Shia'a sect. The sentences they have received vary between 1-12 years.
Activists insist they have not had fair trials, just like the rest of those prosecuted in Bahrain since pro-democracy protests shook the nation. They add that the military personnel, who work for the defense and interior ministries, were also not able to appeal their sentences and that the media has unfortunately neglected their cause, especially with the lack of information about their cases.
Free Ali Al-Ghanmi (who refused to shoot protesters) by Twitter user @HoPeGlObE
On Twitter, activist Hadeel Kamalaldin (@hadeeloosh) asked people to use the hashtag #FreeMilitary to demand the release of soldiers and to tweet their names and details of their cases [ar]:
شاركوا معنا اليوم في حملة التغريدات حول العسكريين من الثالثة وحتى السابعة مساء باستخدام هذا الهاش تاغ #FreeMilitary
The campaign encouraged many to share their stories and experiences. @adharinews tweeted about two cases:
@aljamsee tweeted about yet another case:
@al3abas tweeted about her own brother:
Khalaf (@wald_khalaf) posted several tweets under the campaign's hashtag:
(@Fa6ima_) wrote about another case:
Om Mujtaba (@OmMujtaba2005) brought up the issue of sectarianism in the army:
اخي المغرد,أتعلم ان ابناء الطائفة الشيعية محرومون من الخدمة العسكرية منذ عقود,هل تعلم ان البلاد محرومة من اوفياءهم؟تمييزا ضدهم
Sayed Jalal Mohammed (@Sayed_Jalal) tweeted about one of the policemen and the treatment the imprisoned soldiers receive:
Hadeel Kamalaldin noted the case of a Pakistani soldier:
الحرية للعسكري الباكستاني نجم المحكوم بسنتين و بالابعاد عن البلاد لأنه رفض ما يحدث من قمع للمتظاهرين
Hussain Al-Aali (@alaali_hussain) spoke about a personal incident:
@Dwarseeker wrote about the case Abdulhadi Al-Araadi:
Abdulla Abuidrees (@aabuidrees) is one the military personnel who were jailed and he tweeted how his imprisoned colleagues were treated:
According to (@iGulfObserver) there are soldiers who were killed during the uprising. Here, he tweets about two of them, including their pictures [WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES]:
الشهيد العسكري عبد العزيز عياد:انقطعت اخباره من تاريخ13مارس وتم تسلييمه لأهله جثة بتاريخ 24مارس http://t.co/cGU2D5Aa
This post is part of our special coverage Bahrain Protests 2011.