Bahrain protest leaders granted retrial – but hunger strike goes on

A BAHRAINI court has ordered a retrial for jailed hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 other men convicted of leading an uprising last year, but an opposition leader said the gesture was not enough to defuse resurgent unrest.

The turmoil threatens the stability of Bahrain, an ally of Saudi Arabia and the United States in their stand-off with Iran, and sparked Saudi calls for a union of oil-exporting Gulf Arab states to keep Tehran and regional protest movements at bay.

Following international calls for meaningful democratic reforms and a release of jailed dissidents, a Manama court yesterday ruled that 21 protest leaders convicted in a closed-door military court should be retried in a civilian chamber.

But the Cassation Court ruled that those now in prison – eight of whom, including Khawaja, were given life sentences for trying to overthrow the state – must remain there pending a verdict in a new trial.

International rights groups and the families of those jailed have said all of them should be freed without conditions.

Sayed Hadi al-Mousawi, a senior official from leading opposition party Wefaq, said: “This ruling is just a step in the right direction, but the street will not calm down until all the prisoners are freed.”

Khawaja has been refusing food for nearly three months and is at risk of dying, according to his family. But yesterday his wife, Khadija al-Mousawi, said his hunger strike would continue despite the decision.

She said: “If they are serious they should set them free and then retry them. My husband is going through the whole thing again, remembering the horrible episode of torture, attempt to rape and sexual abuse.”

Ms Mousawi said she saw Khawaja on Sunday after a week of rejected requests and said afterwards he was being force-fed intravenously. The government denied this, saying he was willingly taking nutrients.

Khawaja’s daughter, Zainab, has also been in detention for more than a week for trying to protest in Manama during Bahrain’s Grand Prix last month.

Bahrain’s long-ruling Al Khalifa family initially crushed mass pro-democracy unrest a year ago after calling in Saudi and United Arab Emirates military help.

But Bahraini authorities are now grappling once again with daily disturbances by disgruntled majority Shiite Muslims, with police firing tear gas, sound grenades and buckshot and youths throwing petrol bombs, iron rods and stones.

The economy of the Sunni-ruled state has taken a major hit, with crucial banking and tourism sectors shrivelling.

The 21 convicted men are believed to be among hundreds that an international rights commission said were tortured during a period of martial law imposed to help quell the uprising.

They were sentenced by a military court last year for organising the protests that shook Bahrain’s monarchy and a military appeals court upheld the sentences in September.

The main charge was “forming a terrorist group with intent to overturn the system of government”, but also included collaborating with a foreign state – an apparent reference to Iran.

The official Bahraini News Agency said: “The court is [ordering] that the trial take place again and that testimony from prosecution and defence witnesses be heard once more as if it is a new trial.”

Michael Stephens, of think-tank the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar, said: “Khawaja has become the main PR weapon for the opposition right now, so the government is trying to defuse the situation.”