Zainab Abdulhadi al-Khawaja ( ar, زينب عبد الهادي الخواجة; born 21 October 1983
) is a
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
i human rights activist, and a participant in the
Bahraini uprising.
She rose to prominence after posting
tweets online
In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...
about the protests under the name AngryArabiya
[Bahrain releases all female prisoners bar AngryArabiya]
/ref> as well as for protesting her father Abdulhadi Alkhawaja's detention during his hunger strike.
Background
Al-khawaja promotes the Bahraini protest movement internationally via her Twitter feed, written in English. As of February 2012, she had 33,500 followers.
She is married to Wafi Al-Majed, and they have a daughter named Jude and a son named Abdulhadi. Her father is Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, former president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR; ar, مركز البحرين لحقوق الإنسان) was a Bahraini non-profit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain, , and former director of the Middle East-North Africa region for the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders' Front Line.[ Her sister's husband Mohammed al-Maskati is the president of the ]Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is a human rights organization of Bahrain founded in March 2005 which was active in the Bahraini uprising. The group "organises training workshops, monitors and documents human rights violations ...
.
Protests during 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising
In April 2011, Al-khawaja went on a ten-day hunger strike to protest the arrests of her father, her husband, and her brother-in-law Hussain Ahmad. She stated that though she had a one-year-old daughter, she preferred death to living under the current government: "If my father is going to be killed, I want to die as well.... We've always been taught by my father that dying with dignity is better than living as slaves". She also criticized the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
for "standing behind the dictator".
Along with two other women, she was detained for seven hours on 15 June after trying to hold a sit-in at a United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
office; having held onto her phone in the detention center, she continued to post updates to her Twitter feed, such as, "I think the UN might have misunderstood, we wanted the release of political prisoners, not to join them ;)". Commenting later on the arrest, Alkhawaja stated, "Our goal was never to get home safe, but to get protection for all political prisoners in Bahrain."
On 26 November 2011, a U.S. journalist witnessed Alkhawaja standing her ground alone in front of oncoming riot police; he reported that tear gas shells were being fired just past her head. Because of her fame, officers were ordered not to remove her from the road, and were finally forced to advance their vehicles by another route. On December 15, however, she was arrested following a sit-in near Manama
Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very di ...
dispersed by riot police. She later told Amnesty International that she was beaten while in custody. On 21 December, she was released on bail, but was eventually charged with "illegal public gathering", "showing contempt for the regime", and "assaulting a police officer", charges which were still pending as of March 2012.
She was arrested again on 12 February 2012, as she tried with other female demonstrators to reach Manama's Pearl Roundabout
The GCC Roundabout, known as Pearl Roundabout or Lulu Roundabout (Arabic language, Arabic: ', "Roundabout of the pearl(s)" was a roundabout located near the Central business district, financial district of Manama, Bahrain. The roundabout was nam ...
. While the twelve women arrested with her were released on 20 February, Alkhawaja remained in detention and was charged with "illegal gathering of more than five people" and "participating in an illegal march". Amnesty International designated her a prisoner of conscience "detained solely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression and assembly", and called for her immediate release. She was released from detention on 21 February. She stated she had not been mistreated while in detention, attributing it to the government's fear of "bad media" rather than respect of prisoners' rights.
Al-Khawaja's father began a hunger strike on 8 February 2012 which, as of 11 April, had lasted for 110 days, leading to fears for his health and appeals on his behalf from UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
, the U.S. State Department, and Amnesty International, who named him a prisoner of conscience. In April 2012, Zainab al-Khawaja was arrested twice more for protests against her father's ongoing detention. The first arrest occurred on 5 April following a sit-in at the offices of the Interior Ministry. On the 21st, she was arrested for sitting on a highway close to the Financial Harbour in protest. She was formally charged with disrupting the traffic and insulting an officer. On the 23rd, her detention was renewed for another seven days. Amnesty International called for her immediate and unconditional release, stating that she had been "detained solely for exercising her rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, and urging her immediate and unconditional release".
Arrested
In December 2014, Al-Khawaja was sentenced to three years in prison for tearing up a picture of King Hamad
Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa ( ar, حمد بن عيسى بن سلمان آل خليفة '; 28 January 1950) is King of Bahrain since 14 February 2002, after ruling as Emir of Bahrain from 6 March 1999.
He is the son of Isa bin Salman ...
. A court gave her the option of paying a fine to remain at liberty until her appeal. Amnesty
Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offici ...
's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Said Boumedouha said that "Tearing up a photo of the head of state should not be a criminal offence." In June 2015, the sentence was increased to more than five years. During U.S. Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...
's visit to Bahrain in April 2016, Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa
Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa (born 24 April 1960) is a Bahraini diplomat who served as Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 until January 2020. Khalid became only the second foreign minister in Bahrain's history after replacing Moham ...
said Zeinab al-Khawaja would be freed although the case against her will continue to be pursued.
On 14 March, fifteen riot police jeeps headed to Zainab's house, closed off the entire street in front of her apartment building and arrested her along with her one-year-old son. She has been held in custody in a local police station with her baby before being transferred to Isa Town Women's Prison. Charges brought against her include "destroying public property" after she tore up a picture of the King of Bahrain twice. On 31 May 2016, judicial authorities in Manama
Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very di ...
ordered to suspend her sentence and release her on "humanitarian grounds".
The announcement that Al-khawaja was set to be released came only hours after British foreign minister Philip Hammond
Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede (born 4 December 1955) is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019, Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, and Defence Secretary from 2011 to 2014. ...
visited Bahrain and praised the country's "commitment to continuing reform".
Forced Exile
Even though Al-Khawaja was released there are still charges against her and she remained under threat of being re-arrested at any time. After the Bahraini authorities told the Danish embassy that they would arrest her if she remained in the kingdom, Al-Hawajah, who has Danish-Bahraini dual citizenship
Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...
, fled to Denmark
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, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
immediately upon her release. She announced her exile from Bahrai on Twitter.
Al-Khawaja continues her work abroad alongside her sister, Maryam, who was also exiled several years earlier, in 2014, after the government began prosecuting her in reprisal for her activism.
In September 2018 Al-Khawaja has joined a hunger strike outside her country's embassy in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
demanding medical aid and better treatment for prisoners in Bahrai and announced she would be launching a hunger strike in solidarity with Ali Mushaima, a Bahraini activist who was briefly hospitalised on his 36th day of a hunger strike.[
]
References
External links
*
Footage of Alkhawaja facing riot police
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khawaja, Zainab
1983 births
Living people
Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Bahrain
Bahraini dissidents
Bahraini human rights activists
Bahraini prisoners and detainees
People of the Bahraini uprising of 2011
Beloit College alumni
Bahraini women activists