Bahrain Opinion: An Appeal for Abdulhadi Alkhawaja

UPDATE 1445 GMT: An open letter to King Hamad of Bahrain is currently collecting signatures. It will be delivered to the Bahrain Embassy in London by close of business Tuesday. The letter can be read and signed via an entry in the Comment is Free section of The Guardian.

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This is Abdulhadi AlKhawaja. He is a leading Bahrain human rights activist currently serving a life sentence. He has just begun the 61st day of a hunger strike.

By the time you read this, he might be dead.

If Mr AlKhawaja dies, it will be a monumental tragedy for Bahrain, from which the country may not recover. But more than that. If Mr AlKhawaja dies, terms like "international community" and "universal human rights" will be revealed to be little more than self-serving niceties.

There is time --- just --- to avoid this.

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Bahrain 1st-Hand: "She's Filth" --- Zainab Alkhawaja on Her Detention When She Called Out for Her Father

he said smiling "imagine ur fathers face when I tell him his daughter came today, & I dragged her on the ground like an animal" #Bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) April 8, 2012

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Zainab Alkhawaja, the daughter of detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, has been writing about her detention last night --- her second in 48 hours --- as she stood outside the military hospital where her father is being held:

He started shouting & banging his fist on the wheelchair I was in, told me I had to go for interrogations now. He called some security police & told them to go check if anyone filmed them dragging me. He said, "You know why we did this to you. We don't know who you are. How should we know you are his daughter? You could be an enemy, trying to harm Alkhawaja and we must protect him. That's why we attacked you."

I replied, "Your men yelled that it's Alkhawaja's daughter before they attacked me."

He continued, "In fact I still don't know who the hell you are. You could be anyone, how do I know you're Zainab?"

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 127 Die on A Syrian Saturday

Claimed footage --- near the end of the clip --- of the Free Syrian Army blowing up a regime tank in a convoy in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: "She's Filth" --- Zainab Alkhawaja on Her Detention When She Called Out for Her Father
Bahrain Feature: Have "Hardline Sunni Groups" Overtaken the Regime?
Bahrain Feature: The Splintering of the "Regime" and "Opposition" Camps?
Bahrain Feature: A Call from Hunger Striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja to His Family
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Free Alkhawaja

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2015 GMT: Tonight activist Zainab Alkhawaja has told the story of how she was detained as she stood outside the military hospital where her father, detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, is being held. We have posted her account in a separate feature.

1935 GMT: The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria claim 59 people, including six children, have died in conflict today. Twenty-four deaths were in Idlib Province, including 10 unidentified bodies in Sahl Al-Rouh village. Thirteen were in Hama, including seven members from one family, and twelve in Homs.

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Bahrain Feature: Have "Hardline Sunni Groups" Overtaken the Regime? (Hammond)

A rally in January calls for the hanging of men detained during protests

See also Bahrain Feature: The Splintering of the "Regime" and "Opposition" Camps?

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Bahrain's Sunni Muslim minority, fearful of Shi'ite political assertiveness, is spawning factions that rail against compromise with the island's sectarian majority, while nursing their own grudges against its Sunni ruling family.

The loyalist Sunni backlash, once seen as a card played by the authorities, may now upset even any royal hopes of opening a dialogue to calm a conflict that has shredded Bahrain's social cohesion and cost its tourism- and banking-based economy dearly.

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Bahrain Feature: The Splintering of the "Regime" and "Opposition" Camps? (Louer)

One of Friday's mass marches for the release of detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja

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In the wake of increasing street violence in Bahrain—a far cry from the peaceful rallies of February and March 2011 — the Bahraini regime is attempting to restart dialogue with the opposition. Initiated by a leading representative of the ruling dynasty’s hardliners, Royal Court Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, the dialogue involves pre-conditions that the opposition is unlikely to accept — most notably the acceptance of the 2002 constitution which has deprived parliament of any meaningful power — and has yet to convince the opposition of its sincerity. If started, the dialogue will have difficulty in achieving genuine rapprochement, as the political scene has undergone increasingly prevalent fragmentation. In this environment, describing the actors simply as “the regime” and “the opposition” becomes problematic.

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Free Alkhawaja

One of Friday's "Free Alkhawaja" rallies in Bahrain --- see also our Bahrain Video and Photo Special

See also Bahrain Feature: A Call from Hunger Striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja to His Family
Bahrain Video and Photo Special: Friday's "Free Alkhawaja Protests"
Lebanon Feature: Is Hezbollah's Syria Policy A Regional and Domestic Mistake?
Turkey Video Feature: Will the "Coup Trial" Heal Political Wounds?
Friday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Kingdom on Edge

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2045 GMT: On Friday night, Bahraini activist Zainab Alkhawaja was seized as she stood outside a military hospital and called out to her father, political prisoner Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, held inside on his hunger strike. She was released this afternoon.

Tonight Zainab returned. According to her mother, she was seized, tied to a wheelchair, and taken to the security room at the hospital.

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Bahrain Video and Photo Special: Friday's "Free Alkhawaja Protests"

A visual round-up of the day's marches and rallies in Bahrain for detained hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, from the thousands who gathered across the island to the security forces' attempts to disperse the protests and prevent demonstrators from reaching Pearl Roundabout, the symbolic centre of the challenge to the regime:

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Kingdom on Edge

1937 GMT: These protests in Talbiseh, Homs, write, "Curse your soul, Bashar," in candles:

1923 GMT: A Syrian activist has this report:

BREAKING: Violent clashes ongoing b/w the #FSA & regime army close to the central prison in #Hama #Syria الله ينصركم

— Sumayya Saleh (@Sumayya92) April 6, 2012

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Bahrain Document: Maryam Alkhawaja "My Father is Dying"

Today, April 5th, is my fathers birthday. Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, the man who dedicated himself to fighting for human rights, who trained tens of other activists, is known as the Godfather of human rights in Bahrain. My father, who was beaten unconscious in front of his family, arrested, then severely tortured for months. My father, sentenced to life imprisonment in a military court. My father, on his 57th day of hunger strike as his only way of protesting the daily human rights violations of the Bahraini regime against the people of Bahrain.
 
My father, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is dying to live. Literally.
 
This is what propels my activism. This is why I will continue to fight.

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Hunger Strike of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja

2121 GMT: According to our sources, and many reports on Twitter, there is chaos in many parts of Bahrain, particularly in Manama where there are many night protests and clashes with police:

صورة ؛ اجياب الخليفية تقتحم البلاد القديم من شرق ، pic;roit police attacking bilad alqadeem w/jeeps @BiladQadeem twitter.com/elnetfa/status…

— ZahraNew (@elnetfa) April 5, 2012

29 #Bahrain #UK #USA #HumanRights All roads are on fire demanding the immediate release of #AlKhawaja twitter.com/14Feb_Media/st…

— 14 Feb Media Network (@14Feb_Media) April 5, 2012

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