Selma

“Usually our peaceful protests are very short, like ten minutes. It is a matter of time until violence starts, so we need to protect staff and mothers, children, and wives of abductees. We usually stand in front of an official center and read a statement. In this one protest, my friend was filming while one woman read her statement. Before we finished, a soldier came and told us to go away. She said, ‘Yes, we will leave, but let us finish the statement first.’ We left because we thought something would happen. Then two or three boys who belong to an armed group came and told us to stop. We got on the bus and asked the driver to drive us to the market because it is safer where there are more people—if something happened, someone might protect us, it might be better than being alone. Then I saw a white car driving around, and I got scared.

Threatened at Gunpoint

“This white car had a soldier in it. He hit the bus with his hands, and then told the bus driver to stop. They stopped the bus and got on the bus. They demanded the recording of the statement that was filmed, and I said it was with somebody who was not on the bus. They asked everyone to take out all phones and demanded we hand over the phone with the recording; I said again that we didn’t have it. The soldier pointed a gun to my head and asked me not to say anything. The phone was in fact not with us. They took us to the police station to investigate us; they said that they had to check the phones. We were being treated like terrorists, like criminals—not as peaceful protesters. I was threatened again when I tried to open the bus; the soldier hit my hand, pointed the gun, and said that this was the last time he was speaking, that next time he was going to shoot me. Then they took me to be investigated.

“A colleague and I were arrested. We were taken to a police station where we were taken in by two policewomen who belong to an armed group. They strip-searched us in a humiliating way, took our clothes, and left us only in our underwear. The process was disrespectful and humiliating. The same person who was in the white car earlier led the investigation; they did it for three hours. They asked who we were, what we were protesting, where we were from. We were told to stop everything—all of the activism we do—or otherwise we would be taken away and nobody would know where we were. One of the women who searched me and who was part of the investigation also threatened to beat me and told me that I would be kidnapped.

“My brother came and signed the papers, and I was released after those three hours. It was very frightening, very scary. My father was also very scared, and made me stay in the house for one week. I was threatened as well as my brothers. My father was worried and afraid, but one week later I was back to work as a legal activist and protesting again.”