Zahra Al Shaikh : In the police station.. a place where law does not exist

- What happened next?

- “They took me to the Exhibition Center police station where they interrogated my friend and left me until the women’s shift was over and then they took me to Captain Ghazi who seemed like a different person. We had the following conversation:”

- Zahra you didn’t do anything and we apologize for what the police had done to you.. “I will show you what I will do to him” he said. We will release you today but we need a favor: testify that Nabeel Rajab asked you to woo Rashid Al-Jowder and take the photos from him.

-“Who?” I asked

- Rashid who was naked in the photos distributed on social media.

- But I do not know Rashid in the first place and Nabeel Rajab did not ask me to do anything.

- “I know.. I know” said Ghazi, “it’s a favor, after which you will be released”

- No, I said firmly, I won’t harm someone who serves us.

- He thought for a while then said “Then say it was Yousif AlMuhaftha or Naji Fateel”

- Who? I don’t know any of them and I will not accuse any innocent person.

- It’s not worth all the torture and humiliation. I want your best interest, then in a whispering voice he said, “I will give you an hour to think”

- Not one hour nor two days, I said firmly. I will not admit what I do not know.

I asked her: “How did you get the courage, Zahra, to challenge the Captain this way?”

- I don’t know but I felt that Satan is bargaining with me and I had to refuse all his offers. What I had never predicted took place, Lamees. He called upon the Pakistani police who were outside: “Strip her naked!”

- I did not believe they were stripping my clothes. I expected them to beat me with rubber hoses, hang me, or burn my body like they do with other detainees. I had never imagined nor expected them to remove my clothes one piece after another.

Did you hear that, Minister of Interior?

They stripped her naked, your Excellency.