Bahrain where “acts of compassion” and “social responsibility” will land you in prison

Bahraini activist jailed for “inciting hatred”
10 December, 2012 – Al Akhbar

A prominent Bahraini rights activist has been arrested on charges of “inciting hatred against the regime” after attempting to visit a hospital patient shot in the face by riot police, her friends announced Monday.

Bahrain’s public prosecution office on Monday told Zainab al-Khawaja that she will spend at least one week in prison pending an investigation over the charges after she was arrested over the weekend during a visit to Salmaniya Hospital to check up on a patient.

A court had already sentenced Khawaja to one month in prison and fined her 100 Bahraini dinars ($265) earlier on Monday for participating in a non-sanctioned demonstration in Manama’s Pearl Square in February.

Khawaja, who is widely known by her Twitter pseudonym Angry Arabiya, faces three additional court verdicts this month over participation in anti-government protests in the wake of Bahrain’s massive uprising last year.

She had previously served a one-month prison sentence in May and two-month term in September and October over charges related to her activism.

She is the daughter of a leading human rights defender also behind bars. Her father, Hadi al-Khawaja, is serving a life sentence over charges of “plotting against the state.”

Khawaja’s latest arrest in Bahrain’s main hospital occurred after briefly visiting 20-year-old Aqeel Abdul Mohsen. Abdul Mohsen suffers a shattered jaw after police shot him during an anti-government rally last Wednesday in the town of Bani Jamra.

…source