Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK was recently deported from Bahrain. She travelled there with Witness bahrain, an international solidarity movement that was set up to monitor and report on human rights abuses, collective punishment and suppression of Arab Spring democracy activists in the Kingdom, as the struggle approached its first anniversary.

In this interview she discusses the 'samud' (steadfastness) of the women she met, the arming of the Kingdom by Western Imperialists, and the need to take action against the companies who sponsor and promote the F1 Grand Prix which is set to take place in Bahrain in April. Also worthy of note is her account of how policing is undertaken by foreigners, who are loyal to the king and not the people.