Staff, students, and visitors crowded into a room in Dunton Tower on March 24 to attend a memorial for Naser Al Raas, a human rights activist and former Carleton student.
Al Raas, who was arrested and jailed for 31 days in 2011 while participating in pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, passed away on Sept. 20, 2016 while waiting for a heart and lung transplant.
After being released, he told the CBC he was electrocuted and subjected to mock executions, which worsened his chronic heart condition.
Bill Skidmore, a human rights professor at Carleton and one of the organizers of the memorial, said Al Raas was passionate about standing up for others.
“He was extraordinarily determined to speak out on human rights issues, I think because of his own terrible experience in prison,” Skidmore said. “He was so determined that, even though he was sick, he just never stopped. It drove him.”
Al Raas was working to complete a bachelor’s degree in human rights and law at Carleton before his death.
Skidmore recalled speaking with Al Raas’ wife, Zainab Ahmed, who confirmed that even when he was in the hospital he would ask her to bring his readings and assignments to work on.
According to professors and students who crossed paths with him, Al Raas was known for being brave, inspiring, humble and beaming with love for his wife and family.
Some professors also mentioned his face would light up whenever he would talk about his now three-year-old son, Hassan.
“We are all so full of admiration for him. I think we need to recognize this incredible spirit to keep talking about such issues, especially when it was coupled with his really poor, poor health,” Skidmore said.
“The last thing he had asked me to do was to wish him luck,” Skidmore said.
A few days later, Jayson Pham, another student in Skidmore’s class, broke the news to him about Al Raas’ death.
Pham met Al Raas in his first-year human rights class, and said he remembered Al Raas speaking passionately about human rights issues, and always asking critical questions.
However, not until he heard Al Raas speak in Skidmore’s second-year class did he realize that Al Raas was a renowned human rights activist who had been severely tortured by the Bahraini government five years ago, Pham said.
Skidmore said it is important to have a memorial like this at Carleton.
“It is an affirmation of how much he meant to people, how he touched them,” he said.
Skidmore said he hopes the school will approve planting a memorial tree in Al Raas’s honour, once the weather gets warmer.
“It is so important that we do this for the people who remain, but especially for his wife,” Skidmore said. “It is so important that she sees the admiration we all have for him.”
– Photo by Gowlene Selvavijayan
