MANAMA, 16 December 2005 — Ten Bahraini human rights activists took temporary refuge in the United Nations offices in Manama on Wednesday claiming that they had received threats after announcing their plans to stage a two-day hunger strike near its headquarters.
The ten, including a woman, say they received anonymous phone call threatening that they would be prosecuted for treason if they went ahead with the strike.
The activists remained in the building for about eight hours before being taken in a UN car to the old market section of the capital where one of the activists, Abdul Hadi Al-Khawaja, addressed a small group of his supporters.
Al-Khawaja said he and his colleagues wanted to stage the hunger strike to press for the protection of human rights activists.
“High-level talks between UN and Bahraini officials were held in New York where Bahraini officials claimed that (the human rights situation in Bahrain) was an internal matter,” he said.
Abdul Redha Abdullah, another activist who took refuge in the UN offices, said he believed the phone harasser was a security official.
Supporters of the ten had gathered in front of the UN building after they were told police were planning to remove the activists from the UN building. Police officials dismissed the report that they were planning to storm the building to arrest the activists.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry has denounced the incident describing it as an act aimed at causing harm to the country’s image.
A senior Ministry of Interior official also described the claims of the activists as lies.
He pointed out that tens of protests had been organized near the building in the past.
