During the 2011 Arab Spring protests in Bahrain, Aayat Alqormozi used poetry as a form of peaceful dissent against the government and was subsequently expelled from her university and imprisoned for her expressing her views. After her release, she went on to disclose information about torture during imprisonment and complete her bachelor’s degree. Now, she emphasizes that three things are necessary to aid people like her in Bahrain: education, creativity in peaceful protest, and international support. Alqormozi was a 2017 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent laureate and accepted her award at the Oslo Freedom Forum.