Bahrain Human Rights Activist, Zainab al-Khawaja, Released

Human Rights Activist, Zainab al-Khawaja, Released in Bahrain
By Esther Tran – 21 February, 2012 – ibtimes

Bahraini human rights activist, Zaynab al-Khawaja, 28, also known by her Twitter name as “Angry Arabiya,” was released from prison on Tuesday.

She was arrested about a week ago in Bahrain’s capital Manama, while approaching the Pearl Roundabout in an unsuccessful attempt to “reoccupy” the demolished site to honor the first anniversary of Bahrain uprisings.

Bahraini police charged her with leading an illegal large-scale protest.

Other female prisoners were released last Thursday, but Khawaja was the last to be freed.

Although she wasn’t mistreated during her detention, Khawaja claimed it was only because of the government’s fear of bad publicity, “not because they respect my rights,” she told BBC.

Taking pre-emptive actions against the protests, security forces were deployed last Monday to prevent demonstrators from reaching the Pearl Roundabout.

Over a hundred protesters began marching from the village of Sitra towards the capital’s site after attending the funeral of a young protester, Hussein al-Baqali, 19, who accidentally died lighting himself on fire while trying to burn tires.

Police reportedly used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the oncoming marchers. In response, the young demonstrators attacked with petrol bombs and stones.

“After the burial of Hussain al-Baqali in Jidhafs, groups of vandals rioted. Police legally dispersed them,” Bahrain’s Interior Ministry tweeted out, calling the protesters “vandals.”

The protesters mostly belong to the Muslim Shia sect and claim they have suffered for too long at the hands of the Sunni royal family.(Bahrain actually has a majority Shia population, but has long complained of discriminatiion from the ruling Sunni elite).

Inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings, Bahraini Shias have been demanding democratic reforms for about a year now.

Khawaja is the daughter of Bahrain’s most prominent human rights defender, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, 51. She has succeeded her father, who remains in prison, as one of the high-profile figures in the protest movement against Bahrain’s authoritarian regime and their alleged human rights abuses.

Her last arrest in December caused a media uproar as pictures and videos of her being “disciplined” by a policewoman spread across the Internet. Khawaja had refused to leave a sit-in protest.

“We are not going to give up. Whose determination is stronger — the people’s or the dictatorship? Only time will tell,” she told BBC reporters after her most recent release from detention. …more