Beirut, 09 February 2012 — Courageous defender of human rights and the main founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, announced  from jaw prison, on Wednesday, 8 February 2012, that he begins an indefinite hunger strike. The distinguished human rights defender told his family in a telephone call, that he is starting a hunger strike  to “freedom or death.”

On 22 June 2011, Human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja has been sentenced by the National Safety Court -a military court- to a life imprisonment . On 29 January 2012, human rights defender Abdulhadi Al- Khawaja and 13 other prisoners, including human rights defender Abduljalil Al-Singace and prominent activists, started a hunger strike to protest against their imprisonment and demanding respect for people’s human and civil rights in Bahrain.

The Gulf Centre for Human Rights  urges the authorities in Bahrain to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally free human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, and the other 13 activists, and drop all the charges against them.

2. Carry out an independent, thorough and impartial investigation into the reported torture and ill-treatment of defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, with a view to identifying those who are responsible, and bringing them to justice;

3. Ensure that all human rights defenders in Bahrain, carrying out their legitimate work in the defence work of human rights, are able to operate free of restrictions and reprisals.