Al-Khawaja’s daughter: “They have signed his death certificate”

With the postponement of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s appeal case to 30 April, the Bahraini authorities have ‘signed his death certificate’ says his daughter

Al-Khawaja who is nearing 11 weeks on hunger strike was set to have his appeal case tried on Monday 23 April. But the hearing was postponed to 30 April, according to Al-Khawaja’s lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi.

“We have never trusted the courts in Bahrain, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja’s daughter Maryam”, said to IMS on Monday. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and IMS have been working together for a number of years to improve the levels of press freedom in Bahrain.

“Their courts are neither fair, just, nor independent. With this decision to postpone his hearing, they have effectively signed his death certificate”, says Maryam Al-Khawaja.

The postponement comes amid claims by Al-Khawaja’s family that his health is in sharp decline nearly 11 weeks into his protest. Bahrain officials insist Al-Khawaja, who is a Danish citizen and a long-time IMS partner, faces no immediate medical risks.

The past weeks have seen increased focus on Al-Khawaja’s life sentence and international pressure on Bahrain’s rulers to have him released. Until now the international diplomatic efforts, and call from the Danish government to have Al-Khawaja brought to Denmark have been fruitless.

Al-Khawaja is protesting against a lifetime sentence handed down to him in September 2011, after he was accused of “plotting to overthrow the regime”. During his imprisonment he has also been subjected to torture.

Al-Khawaja is a longtime IMS-partner and led the IMS-supported Arab Working Group’s monitoring of the Bahraini media’s coverage of the country’s elections in October 2010.