As hundreds of Bahraini inmates end hunger strike, one man is holding strong

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

Update, Sept. 15, 2023: The day after she spoke to CBC Radio about her plans to travel Bahrain to advocate for her father's release, Maryam Al-Khawaja was barred from boarding her British Airways flight. Original story below:

Maryam Al-Khawaja says she'll risk her own freedom to try to save her father's life — or, at the very least, see him again before it's too late.

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, a 62-year-old political activist jailed in Bahrain, has resumed his month-long hunger strike, saying he's been denied access to necessary health care he was promised. His family fears he could die behind bars. 

Maryam, who lives in exile in Copenhagen, plans to travel to the small island nation next week to draw attention to her father's plight. She was also imprisoned in Bahrain in 2014, on what she says were trumped up charges, and is still wanted there.

"I do risk potentially, you know, spending some years or maybe even the rest of my life in prison, and that's something that terrifies me," she told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

"But right now, I'm focusing on what is more important than my fear, and that is the attempt to save my father's life."

Bahrain's prison authority denied that Al-Khawaja had been refused medical care and said his health is "stable with no serious concerns."

The elder Al-Khawaja, a dual Danish-Bahraini citizen, was jailed on terrorism charges in Bahrain after he took part in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

His detention has been internationally criticized. Amnesty International say he is a prisoner of conscience and is calling for his immediate release. A panel of United Nations experts says he's being detained arbitrarily. 

His family says he suffers from potentially deadly heart arrhythmia, and that prison officials have denied him access to a cardiologist. 

So on Aug. 9, he joined his fellow prisoners in hunger strike at the Jaw Rehabilitation and Reform Center.

Activists say the strike started small, and rapidly grew to include more than 800 prisoners, according a list compiled by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. Bahrain's government insisted, however, that only 112 took part. 

A statement published by the outlawed Al-Wefaq opposition group said the prisoners started the hunger strike because they were being blocked from worshipping, forced into daily 23-hour lockdowns, arbitrarily put into solitary confinement, denied family visits and provided inadequate health care.

The facility holds several prisoners identified by human rights groups as dissidents who oppose the rule of the Al Khalifa family, which has held power in Bahrain since the 17th century.

The hunger strike came to a pause on Tuesday after authorities said they would improve conditions at the prison, including access to health care. 

But just one day after making that vow, staff once again denied Al-Khawaja access to a medical appointment, his family says — this time for his glaucoma, which puts him at risk of blindness.

And so, after a single-day pause, he resumed his hunger strike. 

Bahrain inks deal with Washington

This is all playing out against the backdrop of Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa's official visit to Washington, D.C.

On Wednesday, Al Khalifa — who is also the country's prime minister — met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to sign a security agreement to enhance co-operation on defence, technology, trade and other areas.

Maryam says the U.S. shouldn't be striking friendly deals with human rights abusers.

"If it doesn't include human rights guarantees, including the release of all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners like my father, then that deal is basically the United States rewarding the Bahraini regime for bad behaviour," Maryam said.

The White House did not respond to a CBC request for comment. 

When asked about human rights and prisoner treatment in Bahrain during a press call on Wednesday, an unnamed senior White House administration official said the U.S. would broach the subject with the crown prince.

"We don't shy away from raising these issues, even with our closest partners around the world, and we'd say Bahrain is no exception," the official said, according to a transcript on the White House website.

Maryam says it's no coincidence that Bahraini officials subdued the broader hunger strike just a day before the high-profile U.S. meeting.

"My worry is that what they'll try to do is, you know, implement these promises to certain people and not others and try to create or sow discord between the hunger strikers ... while also avoiding the international press during the conference's visits to the United States," she said. 

She is calling on both the U.S. and Denmark to do more to help her father.

"The fact that there is an EU citizen that's been sitting in a prison cell for 12-and-a-half years, was a prisoner of conscious and torture survivor, I think is incredibly shameful," she said.

In an emailed statement to CBC, Denmark's ministry of foreign affairs said it takes Al-Khawaja's case "very seriously."

"We have provided Al-Khawaja with consular assistance throughout his imprisonment, and Denmark has persistently worked on his release," the statement reads.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark is in close contact with Al-Khawaja, his family and the Bahraini authorities to follow up on his state of health and to find a solution that can lead to his release."

The last time Maryam saw her father on a video call. She said he looked weak and thin. 

"We've been told, given the heart condition … he is at risk of a heart attack at any time," she said. "The hunger strike makes it even more even more severe.

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

But she has little hope of a reunion. 

"Hope is a privilege," she said. "For me to have that kind of hope, and for it to then not happen, would be incredibly devastating."