{"id":8451,"date":"2012-04-10T07:22:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T14:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=8451"},"modified":"2012-04-10T07:22:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T14:22:00","slug":"the-evidence-is-clear-that-al-khawaja-and-others-were-sentenced-in-violation-of-their-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=8451","title":{"rendered":"The evidence is clear that al-Khawaja and others were sentenced in violation of their rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahrain denies man on hunger strike is critically ill<\/strong>
\n10 April, 2012 – CNN<\/p>\n

(CNN) — Bahrain on Tuesday denied reports that a detained activist on a hunger strike has serious medical problems, saying he is taking fluids orally and intravenously.<\/p>\n

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, 52, was arrested a year ago and is serving a life sentence for his role in anti-government protests that continue to roil Bahrain.<\/p>\n

He has been on a hunger strike for about two months.<\/p>\n

The United Nations has urged Bahrain to consider transferring the detainee, who holds Danish citizenship, to Denmark on humanitarian grounds.<\/p>\n

“In cases where there is a hunger strike, the health and well-being of the person should be the foremost concern,” United Nations spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday.<\/p>\n

Relatives are concerned about his health. His daughter said Al-Khawaja is having trouble breathing and is harassed by hospital staff and security guards.<\/p>\n

“There were very long pauses,” Zainab al-Khawaja said Sunday after speaking with her father. “He was trying to breathe between every word.”<\/p>\n

“His tone and the way he was speaking was like he was saying goodbye,” she said. “We’re not sure if we’ll ever see him again.”<\/p>\n

Bahraini government officials said Tuesday that a medical checkup by two independent experts revealed al-Khawaja is not critically ill.<\/p>\n

He is taking fluids orally and intravenously, and is in good condition, said Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, a spokesman for the internal affairs authority.<\/p>\n

Rights groups such as Amnesty International have called on Bahrain to free him.<\/p>\n

In a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, the group and 14 others rights organizations urged Obama to demand Bahrain release him.<\/p>\n

“The evidence is clear that al-Khawaja and others were sentenced in violation of their rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, which are protected under international law,” the groups wrote.<\/p>\n

A judicial panel has said he does not meet the conditions to be transferred into the custody of Denmark, according to the Bahrain News Agency.<\/p>\n

Al-Khawaja was arrested in April 2011 for his role in anti-government protests that began a month earlier with demands for political reform and greater freedoms in the Sunni-ruled, Shiite-majority nation.<\/p>\n

In June, Bahrain found him and seven other Shiite opposition activists guilty of plotting to overthrow the country’s Sunni royal family.<\/p>\n

He can appeal his life sentence during a hearing April 23, the government said.<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bahrain denies man on hunger strike is critically ill 10 April, 2012 – CNN (CNN) — Bahrain on Tuesday denied reports that a detained activist on a hunger strike has serious medical problems, saying he is taking fluids orally and intravenously. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, 52, was arrested a year ago and is serving a life sentence more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[1925],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8451"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8453,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8451\/revisions\/8453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}