Bahraini activist goes on hunger strike before anniversary of uprising
\n9 February 2012 – The Guardian<\/p>\n
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, convicted of leading last year’s protests, restarts hunger strike calling for his release<\/p>\n
A jailed rights activist in Bahrain has gone back on hunger strike before the anniversary of the country’s pro-democracy uprising on 14 February, the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights has said.<\/p>\n
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was one of 14 prominent figures convicted of leading the protests who took part in an eight-day hunger strike to demand their release. Bahraini authorities said that hunger strike ended last week.<\/p>\n
“Al-Khawaja said in a telephone call to his family: ‘Freedom or death,’ which means he started an open hunger strike until his release,” said the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights on its website.<\/p>\n
The opposition is trying to put pressure on the government, dominated by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family, before the anniversary of the uprising. The reforms they want include an elected government \u2013 the first in the Gulf \u2013 and reduced powers for the al-Khalifas.<\/p>\n
Bahrain imposed martial law in March last year and asked troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help crush the month-old uprising.<\/p>\n
The government said the island’s majority Shia Muslims had co-ordinated the protests with Iran for sectarian reasons, an accusation the opposition has denied.
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