You are herecontent / Human Rights Groups Ask Bahrain to Free Prisoner

Human Rights Groups Ask Bahrain to Free Prisoner


April 9, 2012
Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
We write to urge you to publicly call on the Government of Bahrain to immediately and uncon-
ditionally release from prison Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.  Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights
defender and democracy activist who may soon die, as he has been on a hunger strike for more
than two months.
Al-Khawaja was arrested one year ago in the wake of popular protests against the Bahraini
government, and sentenced to life in prison. While in detention, al-Khawaja suffered from
torture and severe ill-treatment.  As a result, he was admitted to the Bahrain Defence Force
Hospital in April last year with a cracked jaw and skull requiring several operations on his
head and face. 
To protest his ongoing detention and mistreatment, al-Khawaja began a hunger strike on Feb-
ruary 8. In an open letter to the King of Bahrain, al-Khawaja pledged to stay on hunger strike
until “freedom or death.”  
After being arrested in April 2011, al-Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison in June 2011 as
part of a group trial of 21 activists and human rights defenders.  This group was charged with
a range of offenses related to their role in peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain in February and
March 2011. International human rights organizations and the Bahrain Independent Commis-
sion of Inquiry (BICI) have stated that the trials did not comply with international standards of
due process, nor even Bahrain’s own criminal code, because the 21 civilians were tried before
National Safety Courts, which are military courts.
The evidence is clear that al-Khawaja and others were sentenced in violation of their rights to
freedom of expression, assembly and association, which are protected under international law.
We are deeply concerned about the health of human rights defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja,
and respectfully request that the United States urge the Government of Bahrain to release al-
Khawaja immediately and allow him to travel abroad, including for medical treatment, if he
wishes to do so.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
3P Human Security
AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO Solidarity
Center
Open Society
Foundations
Physicians for
Human Rights
Project on Middle
East Democracy
Universal Muslim
Association of America
Freedom House
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Just Foreign Policy
Amnesty International
Citizens for
Global Solutions
Foreign Policy
Initiative
Americans for Democracy and
Human Rights in Bahrain

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

So who gave the Saudi green light to invade Bahrain, prop up a royal thug, ruling family, that also serves the 5th Fleet?


Answer:  Obama props up these puppet Arab dictators because they serve Western Fascist interests, Empire, which like the Yemeni


dictator, is subordinated, taking orders from a more "effective evil", using Glen Ford of Black agenda's terminology, Obama who personally


makes a phone call to keep an innocent journalist, trumped on false charges, in prison, for exposing Obama's fascist, criminal, brutal


foreign policies, illegal drones.  


 


Even Obama's press secretary had no explanation for Obama's personal Fascist, totalitarian role, but said he would come back with


an answer.   He has not done that, and all appeals to save Al Kawajah, will end like the fascist alliance between Sunni religious sectarian,


thugs, ignored until the bad PR and his death are ignored by Obama as well.      Instead, a call to all Arab citizens to go on international


strikes, like Europe, to demand his release, will have more social clout against these Western/Arab thugs.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Speaking Events

2017

 

August 2-6: Peace and Democracy Conference at Democracy Convention in Minneapolis, Minn.

 

September 22-24: No War 2017 at American University in Washington, D.C.

 

October 28: Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference



Find more events here.

CHOOSE LANGUAGE

Support This Site

Donate.

Get free books and gear when you become a supporter.

 

Sponsors:

Speaking Truth to Empire

***

Families United

***

Ray McGovern

***

Julie Varughese

***

Financial supporters of this site can choose to be listed here.

 

Ads:

Ca-Dress Long Prom Dresses Canada
Ca Dress Long Prom Dresses on Ca-Dress.com

Buy Books

Get Gear

The log-in box below is only for bloggers. Nobody else will be able to log in because we have not figured out how to stop voluminous spam ruining the site. If you would like us to have the resources to figure that out please donate. If you would like to receive occasional emails please sign up. If you would like to be a blogger here please send your resume.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.