Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja, the executive director of Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was detained at 10:30pm last night. Abdul-Hadi is one of the most prominent human rights activists in Bahrain and he has contributed to most of the human rights activities in the country. The latest being a symposium, namely “The National Campaign to Promote Economic Rights in Bahrain.” Which took place on the 24th of September. The Al-Oruba club, where the symposium was held, has been closed by the government for 45 days.

In this symposium Mr Al-Khawaja voiced his opinion on government policies and criticized the prime minister who has been in the top of the government for more than thirty years and is responsible for the deterioration of the economy and all the human rights violations in the past. Two days later Abdul-Hadi received a phone call from the Nabeeh Saleh Police station. He was asked to head to the named police station. When he got there he was arrested and detained. An hour later his family received a phone call from him. Abdul-Hadi has announced that he has started a speech and hunger strike, and he will continue this strike.

The BCHR requests the concerned authority to immediately release the detainee. He was arrested for simply practicing one of his basic rights, namely his freedom of speech.

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