King Hamad, Free Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, only a fool would not heed this Wise Council

Forty-five rights groups call on King to free Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, whose life is at risk in prison
5 March, 2012 – IFEX

(BCHR/IFEX) – 5 March 2012 – The following is a letter by 45 IFEX members and other rights groups calling on the Bahrain authorities to release from prison human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, whose life is at risk after almost four weeks on hunger strike:

His Majesty the King
Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa
Office of His Majesty the King P.O. Box 555 Rifa’a Palace, Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 176 64 587

5 March 2012

Your Majesty,

We, the undersigned 45 human rights organisations which are members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) and other groups, call on the government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release from prison well-known human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and former president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, a member of IFEX. Al-Khawaja is a courageous defender of the people’s rights in Bahrain and the Middle East and North Africa region who is at huge risk of dying in prison, having started a hunger strike on 8 February 2012, and now suffering deteriorated health as he enters his fourth week without nourishment. In an open letter, Al-Khawaja pledged to stay on hunger strike until “freedom or death.” …more