AI: Bahrain Must Release Hunger Striker Al-Khawaja Immediately

Local Editor

Amnesty International demanded that the jailed Bahraini human rights activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, be released "immediately and unconditionally."

Khawaja has been on a hunger strike for the past 51 days and as his condition deteriorates, there is growing concern that he may die in prison.
He is refusing food in protest at the life sentence he received in June for allegedly "plotting against the state".

Amnesty described his trial by a military court as "grossly unfair".
"His conviction was based on a confession he made under duress, and no evidence was presented showing he had used or advocated violence during the mass protests against King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa," it said.

On April 8 2011, Khawaja was picked up in a late night raid and subsequently received a life sentence from a military tribunal.
According to testimony he gave to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), Khawaja suffered prolonged torture while in detention.

Khawaja said "his jaw had been broken in four places when police and masked men burst into his daughter's home and seized him."

"I was taken to a Bahrain Defense Force hospital and spent seven days blindfolded and handcuffed to my bed," he informed the commission unveiling that "while in hospital, he and his family were threatened with sexual abuse."
 
Khawaja also added that "he then spent two months in solitary confinement in prison and was denied access to a lawyer. According to the group, the activist mentioned that "he was sexually assaulted and regularly beaten."

Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director, Philip Luther, said on Friday: "The Bahraini authorities have made pledges that they would release people who were imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression, but the continued imprisonment of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja demonstrates that they are not serious about fulfilling such promises."

According to his lawyer, Khawaja has lost 16kg (35lbs) since his hunger strike began on 8 February in protest at his prison sentence.
Khawaja, who is married with four daughters, is also a citizen of Denmark, where he lived in exile for decades. He returned to Bahrain in 2001.


Source: BBC, Edited by moqawama.org