Bahrain activist to be detained for week

A court in Bahrain has issued an order for activist, Zainab al-Khawaja, to be detained seven days for questioning amid Al Khalifa regime’s ongoing crackdown on dissent.

According to her lawyer, Mohammed al-Wasti, the order came after a judge accused the activist of insulting King Hamad by tearing up his picture.

“The judge yesterday accused Zainab of insulting the king by tearing up his picture during the trial,” Wasti said on Wednesday.

Zainab, daughter of jailed activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, appeared before a court on Tuesday during an appeal hearing into two cases going back to 2012.

Earlier this year, Bahrain’s king approved a law under which anyone who publicly insults him will be jailed for up to seven years and fined up to 10,000 dinars ($26,500).

Zainab, who is pregnant and lives in Bahrain, became known in 2011 for publishing news of the Bahraini people’s uprising against the Manama regime on social media.

Her younger sister, Maryam, who is also a human rights activist, was briefly arrested last month upon returning to Bahrain. She was released on bail pending trial on charges of entering the country illegally, assaulting a policewoman at the airport and insulting King Hamad.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.

MR/HMV/SS