Berlin, September 20, 2023.
The Law and Democracy Support Foundation today condemned the blocking of prominent human rights activist Maryam al-Khoei and a prominent human rights delegation from boarding a British Airways flight on September 15, 2023, from London Heathrow Airport to Bahrain to participate in a human rights campaign to demand the release of her father, prominent human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who has been imprisoned in Bahrain for years and also holds Danish and Bahraini citizenship.
Al-Khawaja had posted a video on the X social media platform, in which she stated that British Airways had prevented her from boarding the flight to Bahrain on the orders of the Bahraini authorities, despite her Bahraini nationality. They asked her to speak with Bahraini immigration authorities if she wanted to board the plane. The activist stated, “This might have been my last opportunity to see my father.”
It is worth noting that Maryam al-Khoei was accompanied by a prominent human rights delegation, including Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard, Front Line Defenders Director Olivia Moore, former director of the organization Andrew Anderson, and the Secretary-General of ActionAid Denmark Timothy White. All of them were also prevented from boarding the flight. Mariam Al-Khawaja announced her planned trip to Bahrain on social media on September 7, 2023.
The prominent human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who has received numerous international awards in the field of human rights and is the former president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been detained in Bahrain since April 2011 for his prominent role in the protests demanding human rights reforms during the Arab Spring revolutions. He was subjected to an unfair trial that resulted in a life sentence.
In protest of the conditions of prisoners at Jaw Central Prison, Al-Khawaja joined hundreds of other prisoners in a hunger strike on August 9, 2023, demanding improved detention conditions, more visits, and adequate medical care. His health deteriorated, and he was rushed to the hospital twice in critical condition. The hunger strike was temporarily suspended on September 11th following a promise from the prison administration to improve detention conditions. However, Al-Khawaja resumed his hunger strike on September 13, 2023, due to the prison administration’s failure to fulfill its promise and the cancellation of an appointment with an eye doctor.
The Bahraini authorities continue to insist on their clear hostility to human rights, as evidenced by their seizure of Maryam Al-Khawaja’s right to freedom of movement, along with that of the prominent human rights delegation. They have also deprived her of the ability to return to her country and meet her father, constituting an additional punishment for both her and her father, in violation of all principles and laws of human rights.
