Salah Abbas Habib, has been described, as a gentleman framer, derived from palm hardness and its extension in the soil of the homeland, an activist since the nineties uprising, a tortured prisoner, transferred from one prison to another, from Criminal Investigation Directorate at Manama to "Al Qareen Prison", south of the island.

The past ten tough years - the lie named as "years of reforms" by the government and which were folded by the 14th Feb last year- did not change Salah’s beliefs at all.

Salah, the activist, was not after a fame or status, never glorified or overvalued what he was doing when exposed his life to a heroic risk while protesting to demands his rights in the streets. Never felt tired of seeking the martyrdom, he badly wanted it, and finally got it. He never stopped saying "do not despair, the dream of getting martyrdom is closer than you think, just be there."

Salah, thirty-seven years old, is a father of five children. In the revolution of the 14th Feb, as was the case in the nineties uprising, he was always in front of the protesters without hesitation, one of the heroes that participated in all the peaceful protest, many remembered him with a bared chest standing in front of the army in March 16, 2011, the day that opened the stage of unprecedented atrocities, which was led by Field Marshal and his army, and the Interior Minister and his mercenaries(1).

(Bahrain Mirror) interviewed a witness, who was with Salah when they were chased and attached by mercenary forces in the village of Abu Saiba. The confrontations along the villages of the Budaiya highway lasted until late hours of the night that was after the suppression of the huge rally on the same highway on Friday, April 20 condemning hosting the "Bloody" F1 in Bahrain.

The witness described the last moments he was with Salah to (Bahrain Mirror) saying "It was a time after the middle of the night, clashes continued, we were a group of youth, about 12, we fled to a farm in the village of Abu Saiba, we discovered that the mercenaries surrounded the farm, we withdrawn however, I was left behind with two others, one of them was Salah.  We hid for a while. The mercenaries vehicles parked in front of Abu Saiba School, we then moved from the farm to the gate of Abu Saiba. I asked Salah: Where is your mobile I called and you did not answer?  He said "I lost my mobile in the cemetery when we were running through it, he added: If the mercenaries leave we're going to get it".  The witness added: "While we were chatting, we were attacked on a surprise by another group of mercenaries who were running behind us. We fled to the street, a four wheel police jeep chased us, we mislead them, the car strongly hit a pipe near AlShakura Mata'm".

Breath very quietly, he continued: "a few persons assembled again and the group started to run in the street, the mercenaries shot birds’ gun and tear gas canisters on us, and we entered into a corridor that was the only way. We climbed a wall that is heading to two other farms; we all jumped and went on to the farm. At the farm, there was another group of mercenaries waiting for us on surprise, we returned back quickly. At that time we also were about 12 persons. We were attacked; the mercenaries grabbed five of us and beat them severely. They suffered from fractures and injuries all over their bodies, my brother was among them. I knew what happened to them latter. Only me and Salah left behind, the mercenaries continued shooting birds gun and tear gas canisters; I didn't know how I survived the shootings especially that of the birds' gun, I then jumped on the wall quickly, Salah was directly behind me, the brick, who I jumped on was very soft for that I tried to make a quick and long jump for Salah to follow me. I continued running, Salah did not follow me, I guessed that he either might fell because of the shootings or because of the soft bricks. Salah then disappeared, it was 1:20hours, morning of April 21, 2012".

Calm enough, the witness continued "I waited for the five - who were severely beaten, tortured and thrown in the way - to be treated. I tried to go with another one looking for Salah's mobile, but faced with another attack, we fled again."

He added: "my brother, who was beaten, told me that during the torture, a mobile of a mercenary rang while the officer in charge was with him, the mercenary told him about the five that were captured, however, the officer asked him aggressively to join him and leave everything aside. We did not know then what was going on in the other place."

The witness added, "After the sunrise, we started looking for Salah, his wife began to look as well, we heard some news that someone was caught the same time that we lost Salah.  A few hours later, we received the news of finding a dead body in a residential area, and when I saw the picture I got to know his clothes, he was wearing a black training pant with white liners, and a black T-shirt. We went to see the dead body, the officer there stopped us. The mercenaries didn't allow anyone to reach. They asked the wife of the martyr to bring his passport; they took the passport and the dead body."

Mercenaries left their vehicles after throwing suffocating tear gases on the crowd. The crowd went to the place where the martyr felt. Blood flooded the place; no words can be said at that moment)2) .

A few months ago, Salah himself participated actively in the arrangements of burying his cousin Martyr Ahmed Al Qattan. He washed his body and put the shroud on. Salah yet was so close to join him the night Martyr Ahmed found dead.

Al Wefaq Society announced the martyrdom of Salah Habib, at the same time the 14 Feb Coalition confirmed that the Martyr Salah is one of their leaders.

One of his friends says: "Nothing suits Salah other than martyrdom. He was so loyal to this land, the land that he used to plant it himself. Though, he finally has decided to dismount to sow his body in the soil as a martyr."

1.     A video showing Salah facing the army on March 16th, 2011.
2.   Inspecting martyr's body and blood spilled over the place

• Link to the Arabic copy