Amnesty International has called on the Bahraini authorities to release the Danish-Bahrain national Abdulhadi al-Khawaja from prison, expressing concern that he might not live to hear his appeal trial later this month.
Stinne Bech, Amnesty's campaign coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said yesterday there are genuine fears that the human rights activist is at risk of death after over 50 days on a hunger strike. "The appeal is scheduled for 23rd April but by that time he won't have had food for 75 days so there are genuine doubts as to whether he'll live that long," she said.
The activist was granted asylum in Denmark in 1989, and later citizenship, before returning to Bahrain where he was sentenced to life imprisonment last year for allegedly leading an uprising against the King.
Queen Margrethe came under fire last year for bestowing the Royal Order of the Dannebrog, Denmark’s second highest order, on the King during a state visit to Bahrain just two weeks before he ordered a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrators in the capital of Manam during the Arab Spring uprising, during which the Danish activist was arrested.