30 April 2012
"A Bahraini court has announced that prominent activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and 13 opposition activists jailed for their role in anti-government protests last year will be granted an appeal, prompting Amnesty International to renew its call for their immediate release.
The appeal will take place in a civil court. The sentences imposed on Al-Khawaja and 20 other activists, seven of them tried in absentia, have however not been quashed. Fourteen of the activists, including Al-Khawaja, might all remain in custody for the duration of their appeal, except for one.
The Court of Cassation said Al-Hur Yousef al-Somaikh’s original sentence was flawed and it was reduced from two years to six months imprisonment. The activist is expected to be released today.
“Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and the 13 other activists – who are all civilians - should not even be on trial in the first place, let alone tried in a military court” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Programme Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“They have done nothing but peacefully express their point of view and must be released immediately.”
Amnesty International considers Al-Khawaja and the 13 other prominent opposition activists held with him to be prisoners of conscience, held for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
Al-Khawaja’s health has seriously deteriorated since he began a hunger strike some three months ago in protest at his unfair imprisonment.
His family visited him in hospital on Sunday and have told Amnesty International that he has been force-fed.
He explained to his family that on 23 April, a nurse gave him an anaesthetic. When he woke up, he had a tube going from his nose to his stomach feeding him liquids......."
"A Bahraini court has announced that prominent activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and 13 opposition activists jailed for their role in anti-government protests last year will be granted an appeal, prompting Amnesty International to renew its call for their immediate release.
The appeal will take place in a civil court. The sentences imposed on Al-Khawaja and 20 other activists, seven of them tried in absentia, have however not been quashed. Fourteen of the activists, including Al-Khawaja, might all remain in custody for the duration of their appeal, except for one.
The Court of Cassation said Al-Hur Yousef al-Somaikh’s original sentence was flawed and it was reduced from two years to six months imprisonment. The activist is expected to be released today.
“Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and the 13 other activists – who are all civilians - should not even be on trial in the first place, let alone tried in a military court” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Programme Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“They have done nothing but peacefully express their point of view and must be released immediately.”
Amnesty International considers Al-Khawaja and the 13 other prominent opposition activists held with him to be prisoners of conscience, held for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
Al-Khawaja’s health has seriously deteriorated since he began a hunger strike some three months ago in protest at his unfair imprisonment.
His family visited him in hospital on Sunday and have told Amnesty International that he has been force-fed.
He explained to his family that on 23 April, a nurse gave him an anaesthetic. When he woke up, he had a tube going from his nose to his stomach feeding him liquids......."
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