Summary: Human rights defender Maryam Al-Khawaja arrested and detained in Bahrain

31st August 2014: Leading human rights defender Maryam Al-Khawaja has been arrested and imprisoned while on a personal visit to Bahrain.

Maryam al-Khawaja with her father (©Gulf Centre for Human Rights)

Ms Al-Khawaja, a Danish-Bahraini national who is co-director of SRT grantee the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), travelled to Bahrain on 29th August to visit her father, human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who is on hunger strike in Jaw Prison. She was arrested shortly after leaving the plane, and was held incommunicado at the airport for 13 hours before being interrogated on charges of “assaulting a police officer” and “insulting the king”. She was refused permission to meet with her lawyer before the interrogation.

Ms Al-Khawaja is currently being held at Isa Town women’s prison pending investigation of the charges against her. She has been placed in a cell with two convicted criminals, and her family has not so far been able to visit her.

The officials who held Ms Al-Khawaja at the airport claimed that she was not allowed into the country because she is no longer a Bahraini citizen. She has not been presented with any evidence to support this. She began a hunger strike in protest, but reportedly ended this after two days out of concern for her father, whose health is very fragile.

GCHR is extremely concerned for Ms Al-Khawaja’s wellbeing in detention, particularly considering the history of abuse to which her family has been subjected. Her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, suffered severe torture following his arrest in 2011 for taking part in peaceful demonstrations. Ms. Al-Khawaja’s uncle is also in prison and her sister Zainabhas been subjected to repeated arrest, long-term detention, harassment, and physical abuse.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights and Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (of which Ms Al-Khawaja is former Acting Director) are calling for Ms Al-Khawaja’s immediate release and for all charges against her to be dropped.

Further information from the Gulf Centre for Human Rights: http://gc4hr.org/news/view/724
Maryam al-Khawaja’s twitter account: https://twitter.com/MARYAMALKHAWAJA
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights: http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=9c3bdd9f224b9591ea5920fc9&id=90f787226e&e=14047a5851
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy: http://birdbh.org/2014/08/maryam-al-khawaja-arrested-citizenship-revoked-communication-lost/
Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE11/023/2014/en