Abdulhadi Al-Khwaja’s life in danger
In BlogAbdulhadi Al-Khawaja, 52, who is serving a life sentence for his role in anti-government protests last year, has been denied visits by his family and lawyer in the past four days. He has been on hunger strike for 62 days in protest at his unfair imprisonment.
Amnesty International considers Al-Khawaja and 13 other prominent opposition activists held with him to be prisoners of conscience, held solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, and who have not advocated violence.
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s wife told Amnesty International that he had been barred from receiving visits for the past four days.
They had last spoken on Friday evening, when he phoned her from the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital, saying he had asked to be transferred back to Jaw Prison after having difficulty breathing. He claimed that the nurses and guards at the hospital were not treating him well.
On Sunday, his family were turned away from Jaw Prison when they attempted to visit him, and his lawyer today had a visitation application denied.
On 2 April, the Court of Cassation started to review the verdicts against the14 men, but adjourned the hearing until 23 April, when it is expected to rule. The Court rejected a request to release the prisoners on bail.
Last week, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja was transferred from Jaw Prison – first to the Ministry of Interior’s hospital in al-Qala’a, in the capital Manama, before being admitted to the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital.