Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): This report was not destined to complete. The verdict to arrest Dr. Ali Al-Ekri was faster than us. Wednesday 3rd October was scheduled to be our next meeting with Dr. Al-Ekri, however, the verdict of the Cassation court on 1st October to confirm his five years of imprisonment and his arrest on 2nd October were faster than us.

We are publishing what had been gathered before he has turned into the torturers’ hands. We are writing the story as was narrated by Al-Erki himself.
We vow to you and to history, to be faithful in writing all the biographies that are shaping the national moments we live these days. 14 February chronicles is the sum total of all those biographies.

Introduction

“The decision to be part of the formula is the hardest one” that was how Al-Ekri responded when I asked him about his option that he had gone for after 14 February.
In the struggle of the oppressed vs. the oppressor, the options are always mired by danger. Some choose the safest and easiest path: Passivity. Others align themselves with the stronger that provides them of protection and advantage. Less people choose to stand with the oppressed whatever it takes. Since 14 February, Bahrainis have had to choose.

The hardest I faced in writing this biography was scheduling the meetings with Al-Ekri. He was busy participating in the human rights and political events in addition to his work in his private clinic. He had not been as such before 14 February and to be precise not before his detention. He had been a doctor consumed only in his work and family. Now he has become an activist. In his schedule you will find invitations to various places and participations in the events and demonstrations. What turned him into this activist? It was the senseless regime.

It accumulated the enmity of more than half of the population that has nothing to lose and created a new generation of rights and political activists that is composed mainly of professionals who had not been interested in other than their professions.
To narrate his story, we required many sessions. The session would last for about three hours. He is a good narrator of the minute details in hours and dates. He has got a memory that makes you live the moment as if you experience all its violence, screams and pain.

Ali Al-Ekri grew up in a family that was dominated by two opposing trends: Extremely liberal and extremely religious. His grandfather Mulla Mansoor was the village mayor and had Husseiniya (a building for people to gather mourning Shia Imams). His uncle Mohammed Ali Al-Ekri was jailed for years. “My uncle had a big reformist project, only my father was liberal”. Was Al-Ekri liberal similar to his father? He said: “I’m against extremism of any kind. I tend to be religious more than extremely liberal. I was in my uncle’s atmosphere.”

He studied in Mosel University in Iraq during the years 1985-1991. So he lived in Iraq during the first and second gulf wars. “I was the chief of the Students Union in Mosel. I always like union work. At that time, the union members were not more than 50. I wasn’t Baathist, and I wasn’t asked to be either. It wasn’t compulsory for the science colleges to be Baathists, only arts colleges were obliged to be Baathist according to the government laws at that time.”

Did it represent any political views? He replied: “The Union didn’t have any political agenda. I had a conviction that the student affairs shouldn’t have been politicized. For me, the Union had powers and protected us as students, it made things easier for us in cases of absence, travel and vacations.”

After graduating from university Al-Ekri’s major interest was to establish a professional life as well as a family. He knew Dr. Fareeda Al-Dalal in his internship. They got married in 1994. In 1999 he went to Ireland to specialize in Pediatric Orthopedics, foot and ankle. In 2002 he returned to Bahrain. In 2004 he became a consultant. In 2009 he was promoted a senior consultant.

Until then, Al-Ekri would not leave his private atmosphere of home and work. “I was busy making myself an orthopedic surgeon that required me to pass the Arab Board and Irish Fellowship exams. I didn’t have any political activity. I followed what was going on because of my family. My relatives were subjected to arrests.”

A week in Ghaza

In December 2007 the war on Ghaza made the humanitarian situation deteriorate. Al-Ekri phoned his friend Dr. Nabeel Tammam a board member of the Doctors Society: “Nabeel, we must do something for our brothers in Palastine!” Dr. Tammam opened the subject in the Doctors Society. A meeting was held. Donations were collected. “It was Aashoora (mourning Imam Hussein the 3rd Shia Imam) season, we made stations to collect the donations. Our chants were: For a dinar (Bahraini currency) you can save Ghaza’s children. People responded positively. We made a campaign in Seef and Geant malls and in the clinics. We collected a big amount of money. A bank account was opened for Ghaza under the Doctors Society name.”

Al-Ekri continued: “We equipped two ambulances and went to the borders to deliver them to Ghaza people along with medicines. We didn’t plan to enter into Ghaza. At the borders we heard that they needed surgeons, doctors and medicines. It was a hard decision. We were in a risky adventure. Nabeel and I looked at each other. The other colleagues from the Gulf region left. It didn’t take long for us. Nabeel and I decided to go into Ghaza. We were the only doctors from the Gulf among 50 doctors and surgeons from around the globe.”

At the crossing, the Arab Doctors Union gave each one a bag of food. “Don’t use the food bags unless you are cut off.” Every doctor carried two bags. One was for the clothes and the other for his food. For five days the doctors went to the borders carrying their bags and camped at the borders for the whole day before they were refused to pass through. The international pressure escalated on the Egyptian regime until it allowed the doctors to pass through the borders on the fifth day.

Al-Ekri recalled: “We signed on documents to say that what would happen to us would at our own risk. Then we were allowed entry. We rode a minibus that drove for meters to be in Ghaza. We didn’t believe it. We prostrated to the ground and prayed a short prayer. There we lived a painful and scary experience with daily shelling and near death moments. At hospital we received cases of charred bodies and treated fatal and severe injuries. We stayed there for a week until the war ended and we safely returned to our Bahrain.”
    
The day of 14 February

Until that date, Al-Ekri was not involved in the event. However, he was not absent either. “Being doctors doesn’t mean we have no relation with what is going on in the Arab Spring. After the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, I felt Bahrain was ready for such a revolution even before Tunisia. I wasn’t involved then, I understood that Bahrain is destined to something big, though I didn’t expect it to be of this momentum.”

In the evening many protests were organized in many areas throughout Bahrain. “We heard of the death of martyr Mushaima, he was a son of our area (Daih), his family is a neighbor of my father. I wasn’t at hospital when I heard the news. I went with my cousin Dr. Sadeq Al-Ekri to the hospital and entered the Morgue. There were thousands of the angry youths at the morgue gate. I met the martyr’s father who was accompanied by lawyer Mohammed Al-Jishi. I entered the Morgue and saw the body with all its injuries. Gunshots were in the chest area, specifically at the back from the left.”
Al-Ekri continued: “His father asked me to pursue the forensic procedure, and for support I stayed there. The coroner came. He clearly was worried and hesitant.

He started to write his report. I stopped him saying forensic is not my specialty but I think the basics of the diagnosis is to determine the cause of death. Why don’t you ask to x-ray the dead. The doctor said: I’m definite that this body was murdered by a shotgun, and that is I’m going to write. I suggested x-ray. He replied: difficult. The administrative on shift was Ahmed Al-Am, I asked him if it was possible to have an x-ray. He was cooperative and agreed. The portable x-ray equipment was brought. The body was x-rayed. The x-ray films were brought to the doctor. It was the first time we saw the shotguns in an injured body. They were like stars in the sky. All were in the heart side.”

Al-Ekri went on: “Until then my presence was for psychological support. X-rays were filmed from each side. The cause of death was clear. I asked for a draft copy of the report. The doctor said it would be ready after a week and will be presented to the Public Prosecution. The coroner wrote on the death certificate that it was possible to submit the body for burial. I returned home.”

15 February

"I went to hospital the following morning. For the sake of support I went along with the martyr’s father to get the body. The people were gathering in huge numbers at the Morgue. The hospital floors were looking at the crowd in sadness. The view was solemn and unprecedented. At the Morgue a SUV parked covered in the Bahraini flags to take over the body.”

“The chants were many at the outside. Prayers and chants against the regime and the murderers. The body came out solemnly and heartbreaking. It was placed on the top of the SUV, and the funeral set off. I walked for a while then returned from Al-Fateh Clinic side. There was a huge crowd and people lifted placards. The people were gathering from the Morgue to the main road. The traffic halted!”

Something happened at that point of time. Near a building (Sana) opposite to Salmaniya Hospital a wench vehicle for the Ministry of Interior parked. It had an out-of-order police SUV. Al-Ekri continued: “The people were angry and agitated. A number of the young people went to that vehicle and attacked it by their unarmed hands. I was standing 50 meters away. Suddenly we heard guns firing. It turned out to be a shotgun. I felt that gunshots hit me. I touched my neck, and felt blood dripping.

They were five gunshots. It was a superficial injury. We withdrew with a big group of people into the hospital. The casket SUV hadn’t arrived at the gate yet. People retreated and there were suffocations. We were surprised to see the young men running and carrying a young man. I didn’t fathom it was a deadly injury. I was busy with myself and my injury. I went to the ward to bandage my wound and came back. I went to the emergency department and heard that a young man was dying. The hospital was in chaos.”

“The doctor on shift at that time was Amjad Deeb, he was one of those who would testify against us later, I didn’t interfere. I went to the Emergency Department. They resuscitated his heart a couple of times before they pronounced him dead. Jassim Al-Mihza’a was present and I sat beside him. Fadhel Al-Matrook was pronounced dead. I asked Amjad about the cause of the death and he replied it was an injury in the chest. I said why didn’t you x-ray the body to verify that? He said he would ask his direct supervisor. Al-Mihza’a didn’t approve.”

It was hardly 8 in the morning. While a body was leaving the Morgue a big march was moving from the Emergency Department to the Morgue. The atmosphere was fraught of loss, sadness and shock. The body of the first martyr was continuing its march.

What happened in the afternoon of that day? How Al-Ekri lived those days? That will be in the next part.