News Coverage

August 16, 2023   Ambassador Henry Wooster Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520   Dear Ambassador Wooster,   We, the undersigned organizations, are writing with urgent concern for the life of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, a 62-year-old prominent Bahraini-Danish human rights defender who is currently on a hunger […]

The prominent Danish-Bahraini human rights defender and prisoner of conscience Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja, who has been arbitrarily detained in Bahrain since 2011 after leading peaceful protests calling for fundamental freedoms and rights in Bahrain, began a hunger strike on Wednesday 9 August.    During a phone call with one of his daughters Mr. Al-Khawaja explained his […]

#FreeAlKhawaja newsletter                   June – July 2023   Dear valued readers,   Welcome to our latest newsletter! This newsletter will cover updates from June and July on:   Update on Al-Khawaja’s health Update on Al-Khawaja’s access to his lawyer  Update on family visits  Summary of the life […]

What is deliberate medical negligence and how do Bahraini authorities use it as a tool of suppression and political punishment?   According to testimonies from prisoners and human rights organizations, the Bahraini regime consistently practices deliberate medical negligence as a means to violate human rights and carry out systematic slow killings, particularly targeting political prisoners. […]

By Maryam Al-Khawaja, daughter of Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja, Tim Whyte, Secretary General of ActionAid Denmark, and Vibe Klarup, Secretary General of Amnesty International Denmark.     Today, the 26th of June, is the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The day must be an opportunity to ask what we can do for Denmark’s […]

The signatories call on Bahrain to ensure that human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is allowed adequate medical treatment, as well as the right to access and respond to allegations made by the Government of Bahrain in a response to a UN communication.    In a joint communication made public on 4 May 2023, six UN […]

As previously stated, over four weeks ago, Al-Khawaja was taken to an emergency hospital due to an urgent heart issue, then denied access to a cardiologist. Al-Khawaja was subsequently denied two planned appointments, on the 19th of March, and on the 26th of March respectively. Yesterday, on the 6th of April, Bahraini authorities put out […]

26 March 2023  As previously stated, over three weeks ago, Al-Khawaja was taken to an emergency hospital due to an urgent heart issue, and subsequently denied access to a cardiologist. After raising pressure on the authorities both in Bahrain as well as internationally, the Bahrain authorities first claimed Al-Khawaja had an appointment on the 19th […]

The Turkish Armored Vehicle Description:  The Turkish Armored Vehicle, also known as the “Turkish Bus,” is a notorious symbol of inhumane treatment of prisoners in Bahrain. It is primarily used to transfer prisoners from one location to another. The metal body of the vehicle turns it into an oven during the summer, causing vomiting, headaches, […]

The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) 146th assembly, which is taking place in Sakhir, Bahrain, from 11 to 15 March 2023, has turned into a PR disaster for the host state, exposing its imprisonment of political prisoners and the revocation of visas for Human Rights Watch researches, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and the […]

7 March 2023  As previously stated, last week Al-Khawaja was taken to an emergency hospital due to an urgent heart issue, and subsequently denied access to a cardiologist. Today, the Bahraini regime put out a public statement claiming that Al-Khawaja has been given an appointment with a cardiologist on the 19th of March. As of […]