Abdul-Hadi al-Khawaja, Bahrain

Imagine that you are a human rights hero celebrated by the world, while at this very same time, you are chained behind prison bars for over a decade now?

It does not stop there, but goes further for the case to be also documented by Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), a national committee that was formed by the king of your country himself to fact-find and investigate abuses and violations committed by the country’s security apparatus during the mass crackdown on the social movement.

Stating “Immediately after the arrest, the detainee received a hard blow to the side of his face, which broke his jaw”, “Security personnel in the hospital threatened him with sexual abuse and execution” and threatened his family, and “spent two months in solitary confinement in a small cell measuring approximately 2.5m x 2m” and that “masked guards” beat him “routinely” and sexually assaulted him, amongst other serious violations.

What else could indicate that you were falsely arrested, charged, and kept imprisoned for life?! When thousands of voices continue to call for your freedom throughout an entire decade or more, the ears of those of who imprisoned you are deaf.

I am Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja, a dedicated human rights defender, protest leader, writer, poet and founder and former president of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), co-founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), former MENA Protection Coordinator at Frontline Defenders. I am a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, loving husband, kind father and grandfather.

I spent over a decade behind prison bars, will I still celebrate my 62nd birthday here, away from my family, grandchildren, and friends?

I do not want to spend another decade behind bars so I urge you to #StandAsMyWitness.

Use your powerful voice to stand up for me!

Bahrain is rated Closed by the CIVICUS Monitor

Call for my release by going to the TAKE ACTION section below