MANAMA, 22 November 2004 — Bahrain’s King Hamad yesterday ordered the release of a human rights activist who was sentenced to one year in prison earlier in the day for inciting political dissent.
Announcing the pardon, an official said the king issued a decree stipulating that “the imprisonment (of Abdul Hadi Al-Khawaja) should be limited to the period preceding the publication of this decree.”
Khawaja, vice president of the now-disbanded Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was arrested on Sept. 25 after he publicly blamed Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman Al-Khalifa for the country’s economic woes and human rights abuses. A Manama court yesterday convicted him of the charges and sentenced him to one year in prison.
Khawaja, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was not present at the brief hearing. His lawyers also boycotted the session saying the trial was “unconstitutional”.
“I am happy he is being released, but it is not a victory for me,” his wife Khadija Al-Mousawi told Arab News in a telephone conversation. “Why is being pardoned? Why use that word? Why was he arrested in the first place,” she asked.
“Is this the price we Bahrainis have to pay in order to express our thoughts? I know my husband; he will leave jail but will continue to have the same thoughts,” she said.
“What we need now in Bahrain is to amend the laws that are outdated,” she said.
His four daughters were heard screaming with joy over the release of their father.
“I cannot believe he is going to come back home. I miss him,” said his daughter Fatima. “We support him,” she said.
Human right activists welcomed the step but said that laws in Bahrain should be amended to grant freedom of speech and expression.
“We don’t want to go through this all over again. Will Bahrainis be arrested every time they speak,” said an activist who preferred to remain anonymous.
Khawaja, 42, made the scathing remarks while addressing a seminar on poverty. He criticized the government’s management of the economy and called for the resignation of Sheikh Khalifa.
Khawaja’s arrest sparked demonstrations on Bahraini streets. Yesterday, about 150 protesters gathered outside the court and denounced the verdict. “Where is the freedom of speech? Where are human rights?” said a banner carried by the protesters.
Amnesty International representative Joanna Oyediram, who attended yesterday’s hearing, had demanded Khawaja’s “immediate release without conditions”.
“We consider him a prisoner of conscience. We are upset. ... We defend his right to freedom of expression,” Oyediram said after the court issued its verdict.
When announcing the verdict, Judge Sayyed Mohammad Al-Kafrawi rejected objections raised “to the constitutionality of articles in the penal code in accordance with which Khawaja was judged.”
Khawaja started a hunger strike on Nov. 14 and was briefly hospitalized late Thursday night after he collapsed in prison.
Khawaja lived in exile in Europe for 22 years and returned to Bahrain after King Hamad pardoned him.
Bahrain, a close US ally and headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has been touted by Washington as a model of a more open and democratic society to be followed by other Arab states.
King Hamad has responded to opposition demands for greater democracy and social justice by introducing political and economic reforms since he took power on his father’s death in 1999.
