Bahraini police have arrested Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of a jailed opposition activist who has been on a hunger strike for two months, a local opposition activist told RIA Novosti.
Al-Khawaja’s father, Shia activist Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja, has been sentenced to life in prison along with other activists over an alleged plot to topple Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy during a month-long protest a year ago. He has been on a hunger strike for more than 70 days. Doctors describe his condition as critical.
Zainab al-Khawaja was arrested as she attempted to organize a protest demonstration in the area close to Manama's business district, Ahmad Al-Jaffar, an activist with Al-Wefaq, a Shiite opposition party in Bahrain, said.
“She tried to express her protest against the actions of the authorities who have held her father in jail,” Al-Jaffar said. “She says his days are counted, but the authorities have shown no reaction.”
The official Bahrain News Agency quoted a senior police official as saying the woman “will be referred to the Public Prosecution after disobeying orders not to stand in a restricted area in front of the Interior Ministry's entry and assaulting a public employee while on duty.”
Bahrain has rejected a request to transfer al-Khawaja, who also holds Danish nationality, to Denmark. The country’s interior ministry said earlier in April the jailed activist was being handled without "political or media pressure and with respect for human rights."
Al-Khawaja’s release is among the main demands of thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets in Bahrain on Saturday in a fresh outbreak of anti-government unrest.
The protests turned violent as police used tear gas and sound grenades against demonstrators, who demanded the cancellation of the Formula One Grand Prix race that is being hosted by the country. Last year’s event was cancelled amid international condemnation of the Bahraini authorities’ crackdown on protests, in which at least 50 people died.
Following Saturday clashes between police and anti-government protestors, one activist, identified as Salah Habib Abbas, 36, was found dead on the roof of a building on the outskirts of Manama. The opposition claims he was killed by shotgun pellets fired by riot police after a raid on Saturday night.
Bahraini authorities said on Saturday that the dead man suffered a wound to his left side and that his case was being treated as a homicide, the Guardian reported.
