Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): This is a statement that differs from all the testimonies that you may have read about those who have been interrogated in the past few weeks and months by the Bahraini National Security Agency (NSA) and subjected to brutal torture. The witness is a lawyer and a Bahraini legal adviser who until a few months ago was the legal adviser to the National Islamic Al-Wefaq Society, the country's largest political group. The giver of this testimony (Lawyer Ibrahim Sarhan) has also suffered this brutal torture. He recounts the events of his two interrogations; first on May 23, 2017 and second on May 31, 2017 after he had given a statement to the Al-Mayadeen satellite television channel.

With his keen eye for details and broad experience in picking up the smallest pieces of information while penning pleas and consultations, Sarhan revealed even the details of details of what he was exposed to in the NSA compound in the city of Muharraq, east of the capital Manama: The interrogation room painted in dark black with blood-stained tiles, the five officers all wearing sunglasses, the glass bottle labeled "7UP" that read: "either cooperate with us or taste the bottle," opening the legs in an upside-down (V) shape to concentrate the kicking on that area with the intention of causing infertility, and the tanned muscular torturer who threatened: "If you do not show your willingness to cooperate now, one of our men will rape you."

"[On the first time], he asked me to bend my head to the ground so I could not constantly see their faces until I left the building," says Sarhan. "[The second time], I was able to see their faces and recognize them. Four of them had the same voices as the ones who interrogated me the previous time, and one of them seemed to be of higher rank and spoke calmly. He is the one who interrogated me this time and the rest were just listening."
"You have to forget the law and human rights," the interrogator said to him, adding that "the US president has changed, the situation has changed, and the US president got what he wants." "From now on, we will do with you what we please," he threatened him. Bahrain Mirror obtained lawyer Ibrahim Sarhan's full testimony and the following is the complete text thereof:

Testimony of the torture and interrogation I underwent at the Bahraini National Security Agency

I, Ibrahim Jawad Abdullah Sarhan, am a Bahraini national, holding passport number 2534342 and identity card number 810705176. Date of birth 28/7/1981, age 36, legal adviser.

First: Grounds of the Summons:

On May 23, 2017, at approximately 9 am, I received a call from Al-Mayadeen satellite channel offering me to participate in a live broadcast on what was going on in the town of Diraz. A security operation was carried out at the time to break up a peaceful sit-in held by Bahraini citizens under the banner of voicing solidarity with cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim. I accepted the invitation provided that my participation would be about the legal aspect only. Approximately one hour after the call, the live participation took place to present a legal opinion on the clearing of the sit-in, the violations that took place at the time and the deaths of the five Bahraini citizens who were participating in the sit-in. I appealed to the international human rights community to monitor the human rights violations taking place.

Second: National Security Agency Summons:

The following day, on 24 May 2017, I received a call from the National Security Agency at 9:07 am. The caller asked me to appear immediately at the National Security compound in Muharraq in an urgent and immediate manner, threatening me that if I did not come, they would raid the place of my residence (my private home). I immediately called the lawyer and took him with me. We arrived at around 11:05.

After I arrived with the lawyer and presented the official attorney's paper to the receptionist, he took everything from our pockets including our phones, wallets, papers and watches, and we were searched before we were even asked about our names. Meanwhile, a civilian officer came and asked who Ibrahim Sarhan was. I answered him immediately: I am. He asked me, who is this? I said: This is my lawyer and he has a power of attorney, so he ordered the employee to hand the lawyer all his belongings and said that he had to leave the building immediately. That happened and the lawyer was taken out of the building.

As soon as the lawyer left at about 11:10, I was thoroughly searched with violent grabs by the arms, while being yelled and sweared at, and addressed with derogatory terms insulting my honor, faith and national and religious symbols. Afterwards, I was taken to a room dedicated to torture, as the walls were painted black, it had dim lighting and the tiles were stained with blood. It contained cameras and (two) computers and a round table where five officers in sat, wearing traditional Arabian attire, except for one who was wearing jeans and dark gray shirt, and all the officers were wearing dark sunglasses.

When I greeted them, no one responded and one of the officers (who was dubbed there the big torturer) immediately stood up and began torturing me after he made two of his assistants stand and grab my hands from the back. The torture continued as he beat me all over my body indiscriminately, but then focused on punching on my face and eyes. He then ordered the assistants to open my legs (in an upside down V shape) to make it easier for the torturer to kick me on my genitalia. As he continued to kick me, he shouted: "You will no longer have children." The first batch of torture as he called it continued for 15 minutes.
And then they made me stand up straight and I was asked to bend my head down to the ground so I would not constantly look at their faces until the moment I left the building at 6:35 pm. An officer stood in front of me smoking, breathing out the smoke on my face and started asking me:
Officer: What is your name?

Me: Ibrahim Jawad

I received a punch on my ear from the officer

Officer: Say my name is Ibrahim Sarhan, because that's your famous name.

Me: All right, My name is Ibrahim Sarhan.

Officer: What did you do yesterday?

Me: I did nothing illegal.
The officer punched me multiple times on my face.
Officer: Do you remember or should we remind you of your statements?

Me: Aha yes, do you mean my comments on Al-Mayadeen channel?!

Officer: We have all your comments recorded and written verbatim, what did you say?

Me: My participation was limited to offering a legal opinion.
Officer: We know that, but you asked for international intervention, did you mean to have Magi Iran come and save you?
Me: Pardon me, I specifically addressed the international human rights community and called for monitoring what happened yesterday. I did not identify a state or any country or name a specific party.
I was kicked on my stomach and genitals, and due to the power of the kicks I would fall to the ground and the assistants would lift me up to stand straight again and again, as they sweared and cursed me, and insulted my family and faith with the most heinous derogatory terms.

Officer: Why do you speak on foreign TV channels?
Me: I received a phone call from the channel. They offered me to participate, and I accepted on the condition that my statements be on the legal aspect only.
The officer laughed mockingly and said: You have to forget the law and human rights, for the US president has changed, the situation has changed, and the US president got what he wanted, and from now on we will do with you what we please (here obscene words were said).
Me: I have nothing to do with politics and all my work is in the field of law.

Officer: You son of a [...] (cursing and swearing). It seems that you deserve to sit on a bottle. Dogs (he yelled referring to his assistants): Strip him of his clothes.
Me: Sorry, what did I do? What do you want?
Officer: Either cooperate with us or taste the bottle's bottom.
Me: But I am cooperting. I am answering all the questions.
Officer: Cooperation is to give us information about rights and political activists

Me: I don't have relations with rights activists or politicians except those in the field of law when they request consultations, which is rare.
Here, the officer again asks his assistants to take my clothes off by force. They left me in my underwear. The officer said to me in a shout: "If you do not show your willingness to cooperate now, one of our men will rape you!" I told him: I am cooperating and I have nothing to hide from you.

[...]
Then they brought in one of the security men (a tanned muscular man) to harass me, and when he tried to, I did not allow him and hysterically raised my voice saying: I swear to God that this does not please anyone and I did not do anything against the law. I am not lying to you. I swear to God I am telling the truth.
I said this repeatedly until I suddenly received a strong blow from behind on my right hand (palm) and then my body collapsed and I lost consciousness. It turned out to be an electric shock. After a few minutes I regained consciousness and my body was sweating profusely although the place was cold, and then the officer's two assistants made me stand up straight again.
Officer: You will not get out of our grip, so you better tell us the information we want?

[...]
When I denied the charges they raised against me, the officer ordered moving me to another office. It was a narrow room with a width of two meters and length of about three meters. After I was moved to the second office, the security man told me to turn to the wall, stand at the corner of the room with my head facing the ground, and not attempt to look at any movement in the room, keeping my arms behind my back. Afterwards, two other officers entered and sat at an iron table. One of them asked the questions and the other wrote everything I answered.

[...]

The two officers started to mock me and insult my honor (family) with the most hideous words.
[...]
Officer: How much is your monthly income?
Me: Almost a thousand dinars.
Officer: Wow, and you oppose the government?
Me: I'm not a dissident as you imagine me to be.
Officer: So why did they bring you here?
Me: I do not know.
Officer: You are a member in Al-Wefaq, so you are a dissident?
Me: I work according to the law and not against it.

Officer: It seems that this session will be fun, since you will teach us the law.
Me: Sorry, you are the ones guarding the country and implementing the law. You don't need anyone to teach you.

After that, I was asked many personal questions for more than two hours. The questions were about personal information regarding my family, the nature of my work and my monthly income.
Then the two officer exited the room and another officer (wearing a jeans and shirt) came in. The moment he came in, he went behind me and grabbed my hair and started to hit my head on the wall, saying: "I'm here alone and I'll do whatever I want with you, so that you would be an example for whoever thinks about appearing in the media and raising their voice against the government.

Officer: Who organizes rallies in your area?
Me: I do not participate in marches and I do not know these people or organizers.
Officer: Cooperate with me and I will give you a last chance. If you do not give me names, you will experience real torture for you did not suffer anything yet.
Me: How could I give you names that I do not know?

The officer yelled: "Bring me the bottle with a condom," and a few seconds later, a man came in carrying what he asked for. The officer approached me and put the bottle and condom in front of me. It was a glass bottle that had (7UP) written on it.
Officer: Do you want to sit on this bottle? Or do you want this beautiful young man to have sex with you? You only have these two options.
I remained silent.
Officer: Speak, you [...]  (insults and swear words)
I remained silent.

The officer goes back behind me kicks me and beats my head on wall.
Officer: Call me the handsome young man.
Moments later, a tall person entered the room. He had a large beard without a mustache and was light-skinned. The officer grabbed my head and raised it towards this person and said: Do you like him?

I remained silent.

The officer approaches me, starts beating me and then calls two people who were with him. They started to kick me all over my body. They knocked me to the ground and started to beat me and drag me on the floor.
The beating stopped and then the officer started asking questions again.
[...]
Officer: Did you receive a housing service?
I said no.
Officer: Did you get an education scholarship?
I said no.
Officer: How much is your salary at Al-Wefaq?
Me: I do not get paid for my work at Al-Wefaq.
Officer: What do you think about having a job at the National Institute for Human Rights? You are man of law and we can provide you with a job at the National Institute for Human Rights.
Me: I do not want that. My work is enough for me and provides me with a good income.
Officer: But we'll close the office you're working in.
Me: If it's because of me, I'll leave the office and there's no need to harass others because of me.
Officer: How will you live without work?
Me: God shall take care of livelihood.
Officer: I'm going now, and a car will arrive from the General Investigation Directorate as you are accused of inciting hatred against the regime and your penalty will be three years [of imprisonment]. Do you want to save yourself from this charge and punishment before I leave you?
I remained silent.
Officer: Speak you animal, you [...]
Me: I have no comment, because I am shocked, how could I be accused of an offense I did not commit and you did not interrogate me about such an accusation.
Officer: Don't you know who we are?

Me: Yes I do, the National Security Agency.

Officer: Correct, but do you know the previous name?

I said State Security.

Officer: You are clever but malicious.

The officer then goes out and sends in one of his assistants. He gives me my clothes, blouse, suit, belt, phone (which was searched) and my identity card and asks me to dress quickly, and as soon as I put on my clothes, he took me to the bathroom.
Once I got into the bathroom, I could see that the sun was setting from a small window. After I went out of the bathroom, he gave me a small bottle of water and told me to drink. I took a small sip, and then he took me back to the room and said to me now you can sit down facing the corner.

Five minutes later, two officers came, told me to stand up and said: "Now you will return to your mother and we will call you again to come. We will not take you to the investigation directorate building, for it is crowded with animals." One of them escorted us to the elevator door and told me to keep my head down as I exited the building until I reach the street.

Third: Second Summons:

On Wednesday, May 31, 2017, the National Security Service contacted me again from the phone number 17188888. I was sleeping at the time, so I did not answer the recurrent phone calls, and at 1015 am I answered a phone call from a National Security officer, who asked me to attend immediately.

I arrived at the building of the National Security Agency at 11 o'clock in the morning. They immediately took me to the interrogation room where there were five officers. Without searching me, they sat me in a chair and I sat opposite to the officers' table. Three of them were wearing white garbs and red Shemaghs, two others were wearing jeans, one of them was wearing blue jeans and a black shirt and the other was wearing sea blue jeans and a red shirt. I was able to look at them and recognize their faces. Four of them had the same voices as the ones who interrogated me the previous time, and one of them seemed to be of higher rank and talked calmly. He is the one who interrogated me this time and the rest were only listening.

Officer: Hello Mr. Ibrahim Sarhan. Abu Mohammed with you here. and I heard that you were interrogated last Wednesday. Unfortunately, some things happened to you that should not have taken place. I hope you will cooperate with me so that would not happen to you again.
Me: I am cooperating with you. You are a security body and every citizen should cooperate with security for the sake of public interest, and this also serves the country.
Officer: I found out that you are a legal adviser and that you have a position in the community and I want you to have a positive role in our work.
Me: How so?

Officer: You must give us the information that you have that threatens national security.

Me: I'm sorry, I did not receive such information, and I have no information that could be threatening to the homeland. Thank God the country is not threatened by terrorism or terrorist groups.
Officer: But there is an opposition?
Me: The opposition operates in accordance with the law and in public. There are no secret organizations or any such thing, and all the information is available on social media networks.
Officer: Are you in the opposition?
Me: I do not categorize myself as a dissident. All my work is in the field of law and this domain serves the homeland so I consider myself to be a servant of the nation.
Officer: But you are affiliated with Al-Wefaq, which is a terrorist organization.
Me: Sorry officer, but the society worked in accordance with the law and was licensed by the Ministry of Justice and I was a member at the time. However, after its closure, the membership was no longer valid, so my work with them stopped.
Officer: But you have contact with its officials.
Me: Social contact constitutes no criminal suspicion.
[...]
Officer: Why don't you work with the National Institute for Human Rights after the closure of reconciliation?
Me: The Institute's board of directors is appointed by the king and its employees are state employees, and it is not acceptable to mix between the legal practice and public office, and my income from this profession is better. The legal practice is a freelance profession and I do not want to leave self-employment.
Officer: Why didn't you publish what happened to you during the previous summons?
Me: I did not see a need to do so.
Officer: Are you resentful, seeking revenge for what happened to you?

Me: Resentment is not a good attribute for a person to have, and revenge is the language of the weak and ignorant. I do not resent you and do not have a thought of revenge in my mind, for we are humans, we do wrong, forgive and pardon.
Officer: Do you consider what happened to you a wrongdoing on our part?
Me: I hope it will not happen again because it is contrary to the directives of the political leadership, namely the country's king.
Officer: Where did you learn the law?
Me: In Egypt.
Officer: And where did you learn philosophy?
Me: I did not learn philosophy.

Officer: But you use philosophy in your answers, as evidenced by the previous question (Do you consider what happened to you to be a wrongdoing)?
Me: I think that's logic and not philosophy.
Officer: It doesn't matter now, what is your relationship with the lady/Ebtisam Al-Sayegh?
Me: I do not have any relations with her.
Officer: But she says she has a relationship with you in the field of human rights.
Me: I do not consider that mere phone calls that I receive from dozens of people who ask for legal advice or make legal inquiries can be called a relationship.
Officer: Aha, and what is your relationship with Mr./ Radhi Al-Qatari?
Me: I have no relationship with him.
Officer: But he says he gave you a sum of money and has common work with you?
Me: This is not true, and I do not need money or common work with anyone. The income I have is enough for me to not need such money or work.
Officer: You're handsome, you have a strong personality, and you are clever. I want to work with the NSA.
Me: Sorry, but how?
Officer: By contacting me via phone and WhatsApp and giving me legal advice, information and general news and we shall become friends.
Me: The National Security Agency has enough security personnel to maintain security. The Agency does not need someone like myself occupied with loads of work, for I do not have social relations and do not follow the news and events, because I spend all my time writing legal pleadings and consultations.
Officer: Do you have a desire to be a member of parliament?
Me: No, a legislator has a heavy responsibility and I do not consider myself eligible to bear such responsibility.
Officer: Are the ones there better than you?
Me: I do not follow their news, and I cannot assess the members of the parliament.
Officer: But you are critical of their work.
Me: Excuse me, I criticize some laws that in my opinion need to be amended to be more progressive, but I do not criticize the work of MPs.
Officer: And do you criticize judges?

Me: Challenging the appeals or cassation [court verdicts] is the job of the lawyer and is the basis of the profession. Challenging is not criticism, because both the judge and the lawyer seek justice, so they complement each other.
One of the officers shouted and said: "You are a devious and untruthful person." However, the officer who was interrogating me interrupted him and gestured that he remain silent. The interrogation carried on like this and after three hours, the officer told me to leave the building and that he would contact me later.

Disclaimer: Some parts of the statement were deleted for the purpose of protecting others who were mentioned during the interrogation

Arabic Version