Bahrain hunger striker sees husband for first time in two months

Bahrain hunger striker sees husband for first time in two months
# guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 June 2011 12.42 BST
by Peter Walker

Zainab al-Khawaja allowed to spend six minutes with her husband Wafu Almajed, who was arrested in April

The young Bahraini woman who became a prominent voice of the Arab uprisings after going on hunger strike to protest at the detention of relatives has described in a series of heart-rending tweets her first meeting with her husband in more than two months.

Zainab al-Khawaja, who staged a 10-day fast in April following the beating and arrest of her father, a leading human rights activist, and the arrest of her husband and her brother-in-law, described being allowed to spend just six minutes with Wafu Almajed.

Much of Khawaja’s overseas profile comes from her much-read and prolific updates under the Twitter moniker angryarabiya. Friday’s brief reunion, in which Khawaja was allowed to bring along the couple’s 20-month-old daughter, Jude, was described immediately afterwards in a series of breathless and emotional 140-character missives. Beginning, “Hi every1, at long last, finally, I have seen my husband,” Khawaja described being let into the jail in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, by one of the police officers who arrested and beat up her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. He also remains in custody.

The description continued: “They took us to a room, after searching us. Then Wafi walked in. I dunno how to explain how I felt … We hugged Wafi, then he was asked to sit on a chair abt 4 mtrs away from us … There were at least 5 police with us in the small room, and 2 by the door. all looking and listening to us … I woke jude and walked over and put her in his lap. I cud tell he’s fighting tears … Wafi started singin Barneys ‘I love u song’ to jude, infront of all the police … Jude had just woken up and was staring at Wafi, probably surprised. Then wafi sang ‘if all the raindrops’ another of Judes favorites.” …more