Manama, April 14: The daughter of a prominent Bahraini opposition figure has accused Manama of human rights violations as she enters the fourth day of a hunger strike.
Zainab al-Khawaja told the Associated Press on Wednesday that she will refuse food until her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, her husband, brother-in-law and her uncle are released from detention.
The 27-year-old mother of a baby girl recalled how the Bahraini regime forces attacked her father’s house on Saturday and beat him unconscious before the ‘armed masked men’ took him away. Her husband and other family members were picked up in different police sweeps. All were arrested in Manama, she said.
Al-Khawaja further explained that her father’s only crime was he had documented human rights abuses in crisis-hit Bahrain, and her other family members were incriminated for siding with the anti-government protesters.
“I demand he and all men of my family be released,” she said.
The arrests came after the Bahraini government dismissed 30 doctors and 150 health ministry workers for supporting anti-government protests and calling for greater political freedoms and equal rights.
Bahraini authorities had earlier suspended over 200 athletes, including four football players, for joining the popular revolution in the Middle Eastern country.
Since February 14, the Bahraini government’s brutal crackdown has continued against anti-government protesters, who have been demanding an end to the royal family rule that has been in power in the tiny Persian Gulf island nation for decades.
Saudi Arabia has also assisted Manama in choking the peaceful protests by dispatching thousands of troops to neighboring Bahrain in mid-March. In addition, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took a similar measure to help quell the month-old protest rallies seeking to break the al-Khalifa dynasty’s monopoly on power.
According to opposition groups, at least 30 people have been killed and over 800 anti-government activists, including 17 women, have been arrested. None of those in custody have been publicly charged with a crime or brought to trial.
Protesters say they will continue their street demonstrations until their demands for freedom, constitutional monarchy as well as a proportional voice in the government are met.
Bahrain holds particular importance to Washington as the host of US Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Persian Gulf.
——Agencies