Belated statement by US Department of State on Humanitarian Crisis concerning Abdulhadi al-Khawaja

US in contact with Bahrain over jailed activist
(AFP) – 9 April, 2012 – 18:22PM EST

WASHINGTON — The US State Department said Monday it is in contact with Bahraini authorities over the case of a jailed Bahraini-Danish activist and is urging a “humanitarian solution.”

Mohammed al-Jeshi, the lawyer for the activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, told AFP that Khawaja was feared to have died, after Bahraini authorities rejected repeated requests by Jeshi and his family to visit or contact him.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington that “we are very concerned about the case of Mr al-Khawaja, particularly with regard to his health.”

She added that Jeffrey Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, and diplomats at the US embassy had reached out to the Bahraini authorities about the activist’s case.

“We are in touch with the Bahrainis and with our international partners, and we are urging a humanitarian solution,” Nuland said.

Jeshi, who spoke by telephone to AFP in Dubai, said the last time he contacted Khawaja was on Saturday, a day after he was moved from the interior ministry hospital into a military hospital in Manama.

Khawaja, a Shiite who was condemned with other opposition activists to life in jail over an alleged plot to topple the Sunni monarchy during a month-long protest a year ago, began a hunger strike on the night of February 8-9.

Denmark has asked Bahrain to send Khawaja, who is also a Danish citizen, to the Scandinavian country. Bahrain’s official news agency BNA reported Sunday that Manama had turned down the request. ..source