A Bahraini court upheld charges against one of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders on Thursday, after denying him access to an appeal hearing, according to his family and rights campaigners. Abdul-Hadi al-Khawaja, 61, was initially imprisoned in 2011 after leading peaceful protests calling for fundamental freedoms in the kingdom.
Last year, he was handed fresh new charges, including allegations that he broke a plastic chair when denied the right to call his daughters from prison and insulted a prison guard. Khawaja instructed his legal defence to withdraw from the appeal proceedings on Thursday on account of denying him access to the court and to his lawyers prior to the meeting.
His legal representative handed a letter written by the detainee to the judge and withdrew from the courtroom. In the letter, Khawaja states: “Upon examining the file of this case and similar cases, it becomes clear that there is a complex network of laws, procedures, and security, legal, and judicial institutions working in unison to violate the rights of prisoners, especially those who oppose the regime, rather than protecting those rights.”
“Despite over a decade of unlawful imprisonment that followed horrific torture, Abdul-Hadi al-Khawaja continues to inspire and is determined to defend his rights and others,” said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD).
