Her ailing father is a political prisoner in Bahrain. She can't board a flight to see him

A daughter of a long-detained human rights activist in Bahrain tried to return to the island kingdom on Friday to press for her father's release but was turned away from her flight in London.

Maryam Al-Khawaja was accompanied by several other activists — including Amnesty International secretary-general Agnès Callamard — seeking to prevent authorities from immediately detaining her upon landing.

But before she could board her British Airways flight, she said she was prevented from checking in as Bahraini immigration officials told the airline not to allow her on the plane.

Her attempted trip came as her father, 62-year-old Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, has resumed a hunger strike that began in early August to protest the conditions of his 12-year imprisonment on internationally criticized charges stemming from his role in leading the 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations in Bahrain.

"We tried to check in here at the [British Airways] counter and we were told that they are not allowed to board us despite my being a Bahraini citizen," Maryam Al-Khawaja said in a video message on X, formerly known as Twitter, holding her red Bahraini passport and flanked by activists.

"It's incredibly disappointing as this could have been — may have been —  my last chance to see my dad."

Facing charges in Bahrain

On Thursday, the day before the flight, Maryam Al-Khawaja spoke to CBC Radio's As It Happens about her father's condition.

She said he's suffering from glaucoma and a potentially deadly heart condition, and that he was weakened by his month-long hunger strike.

"Therefore, this trip is also an attempt to try and see him in case, God forbid, the worst were to happen," she told host Nil Köksal.

LISTEN | Maryam Al-Khawaja says she'll risk her own freedom to see her father:

As It Happens6:43As hundreds of Bahraini inmates end hunger strike, one man is holding strong

Just one day after Bahraini prison officials promised to improve health care for inmates, political prisoner Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja says he was, once again, denied a much needed medical appointment. So while his fellow prisoners have ended their month-long hunger strike, he's resumed his. His daughter, Maryam Al-Khawaja, says she'll risk her own freedom to save him by returning to Bahrain — where she, too, is wanted by authorities. She spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

Bahrain's government said in a statement it "reserves the right to refuse entry, if deemed necessary."

It did not elaborate, though it earlier said that "individuals who are convicted in a court of law are subject to legal proceedings and due process," when asked about Maryam A-Khawaja's planned trip.

She has been living in exile in Copenhagen since 2014, when she was convicted on what she says were trumped up charges in Bahrain.

She still faces a variety of charges on the island, including what she described as unclear terrorism charges that could carry a life sentence.

British Airways, responding to questions about the activists being stopped from the flight, said: "All airlines are legally obliged to comply with immigration control laws and entry requirements for customers as set by individual countries."

Activists criticized the decision.

"Denying Maryam and us the chance to travel to Bahrain will not silence us," rights group Front Line Defenders, which also sent a representative for the flight, said.

"We will double our efforts to call on all those in the international community to urge and push Bahraini authorities to do the right thing, and free Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and other unjustly imprisoned [activists]." 

Massive hunger strike

Hundreds of prisoners at the Jaw Rehabilitation and Reform Center in Bahrain, including Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, went on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their detention.

It marked one of the largest demonstrations against Bahrain's Al Khalifa royal family in the decade since it, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, violently suppressed the Arab Spring protests. The Sunni Al Khalifa family has ruled over the majority Shiite island in the Persian Gulf since 1783.

The prisoners suspended their hunger strike during this week's visit to Washington, D.C., by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, though Al-Khawaja resumed his over reportedly being denied access to health care ahead of his daughter's attempted trip.

Bahrain has insisted that Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and others have received proper medical care in custody, and claimed he "repeatedly and voluntarily declined to attend his regular medical appointments".

During her Thursday interview on CBC Radio, Maryam Al-Khawaja pushed back against the country's statements.

"What human rights defender or what prisoner of conscience would put their life at risk and refuse to go to their medical appointments when they know they have a heart condition? For the sake of what? To what end? Just to embarrass the government?" she said.

"It's not like my father thinks that denying himself access to medical treatment or going on hunger strike, which has long lasting effects on his health, actually changes things in Bahrain in regards to, you know, there being a democracy or there being actual respect for human rights and basic freedoms."