International Federation
for Human Rights

Mr. Abdulhadi Al Khawaja is the former President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) as well as the former MENA Director at Front Line. On June 22, 2011, he was sentenced to life in prison for “organising and managing a terrorist organisation”, “attempt to overthrow the Government by force and in liaison with a terrorist organisation working for a foreign country” and the “collection of money for a terrorist group”, together with 20 other political and human rights activists by the National Security Court of Bahrain.

Since February 9, 2012, Mr. Al Khawaja has been on hunger strike and is currently held at the military hospital with his health status is alarmingly deteriorating. According to his family and lawyers, Mr. Al Khawaja’s life would be in jeopardy as he enters in his 82th day of hunger strike to challenge his arbitrary detention. The Observatory regrets that the authorities denied requests made by both FIDH and Frontline delegations to visit him in detention, during two missions carried out between April 1 and 5, 2012.

The Observatory is further concerned by the fact that according to reliable information, the retrial before a civilian court will still use the evidence gathered by the military prosecutors. Mr. Al Khawaja was reportedly tortured and sexually assaulted and had underwent several surgeries as a result of his injuries. Furthermore, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report has confirmed Mr. Al Khawaja’s prolonged torture during his detention.

While the first step of transferring the case to a civilian court is taken, the Observatory reminds the Bahraini authorities of their obligation to guarantee the fundamental right to a fair trial and the dismissal of all evidence extracted under torture.

The Observatory has repetitively urged the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Al Khawaja, whose life imprisonment sentence is aimed solely at sanction his human rights activities, as well as to guarantee in all circumstances his physical and psychological integrity.

The Observatory recalls more generally the authorities’ obligation to comply with the international human rights instruments ratified by the Kingdom of Bahrain and their pledge to effectively implement the recommendations of the BICI report, specifically recommendation No. 1720 (“to make subject to review in ordinary courts all convictions and sentences rendered by the National Security Courts where fundamental principles of a fair trial, including prompt and full access to legal counsel and inadmissibility of coerced testimony, were not respected be subject to full review in the ordinary courts”).

For more information, please contact:

OMCT: Delphine Reculeau: + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39

[1] 14 activists, including Mr. Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, are detained. The others were sentenced in abstentia.