Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja

Rights groups have issued a statement expressing their concerns over the condition of Bahrain’s prisoner of conscience, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja who recently started an open-ended hunger strike and requires urgent medical care.

The jailed activist is the former president and co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). He was sentenced to life in prison following the brutal suppression of Bahrain’s pro-democracy protests in 2011.

Al-Khawaja went on a hunger strike earlier this month to protest arbitrary detentions and the degrading treatment of detainees in Bahrain’s Jaw prison.

Rights groups outlined the abuses suffered by Al-Khawaja and other inmates following the introduction of new restrictions at the prison, which include denying the detainees access to medical care, cancelling hospital appointments, making inmates wear shackles when they are outside their cells, and severely limiting family visits.

The statement also appeals to Manama’s foreign allies to pressure the regime to immediately and unconditionally release Abdulhadi Al Khawaja as well as BCHR’s president Nabeel Rajab.

“Allow Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, Nabeel Rajab and all activists and prisoners unhindered access to medical care without any restraints…Ensure, in all circumstances, that journalists…and all human rights defenders in Bahrain are able to carry out their legitimate activities without fear of retaliation and without any restrictions, including judicial harassment,” the statement reads.

The signatories to the document include the BCHR, the European Bahraini Organization for Human Rights (EBOHR), SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights, the Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (GIDHR) and the Bahraini German Organization for Human Rights.