Al-Khawaja’s Fate Unknown, Protests Sweep the Country
Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have attacked protesters demanding the release of prominent rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.
The regime forces fired teargas and sound grenades to disperse the protesters in several towns and villages around the capital Manama.
Al-Khawaja, who began a hunger strike in early February in protest against his life sentence, is now feared dead, according to his lawyer Mohammed al-Jeshi.
Mohammed al-Jeshi said on Monday that Bahraini authorities have turned down repeated requests to contact him since Sunday and that no information was available on al- Khawaja's health.
"We fear that he might have passed away as there is no excuse for them to prevent us from visiting or contacting him," he said adding that "no information was available on Khawaja's health."
In parallel, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Bahraini authorities to transfer al-Khawaja to Denmark for medical treatment on humanitarian grounds.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters that "in cases where there is a hunger strike, the health and well-being of the person should be the foremost concern."
Meanwhile, as Bahraini authorities continue crushing protests with the help of troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, seven Bahraini policemen have been injured by unknown assailants in the village of Akr, south of Manama.
General Tareq al-Hassan, Bahrain's public security chief, said "an improvised bomb exploded late Monday near a police checkpoint at the entrance to the village, wounding seven policemen, three of them critically," Bahrain's official BNA news agency claimed.
Al-Hassan added that "the initial investigation has revealed that the explosion was caused by a pipe bomb attached to a container full of gasoline."
For its part, al-Wefaq, said in a statement that "it was closely following the developments in Akr... but we have no independent information about the incident, adding that the village was entirely surrounded by security forces who are imposing collective punishment."
"We have received calls for help from village residents," al-Wefaq said in its statement adding that "security forces are using pellet guns against the villagers."
Monday's explosion coincides with mounting pressure by the opposition on Grand Prix organizers to cancel the Formula One show for a second year in a row.
The youth group of the "Revolution of February 14" has called for "three days of rage" in the tiny kingdom from April 20 to 22, and also launched a campaign on Twitter to prevent the race which is scheduled for April 22.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org
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