European Parliament Demands Release of Activist Al-Khawaja in Bahrain

By Staff, Agencies

Human rights are non-negotiable. The European Parliament has voted on a resolution demanding the release of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.

Al-Khawaja, a human rights activist, was sentenced to life in prison in Bahrain’s backlash against the 2011 protests in the country.

Al-Khawaja was nominated for the Nobel peace prize in 2013, and was subject to arbitrary detention, a UN working group concluded in 2012. The UN group reported that al-Khawaja had been beaten in prison and suffered four fractures to his jaw.

The resolution calls for the release of al-Khawaja and an end to the use of torture and the death penalty. It also denounces Bahrain’s repression of human rights defenders.

The vote is a victory for human rights, especially as the right-wing EPP constantly tried to block the resolution and any criticism of the Bahrain government. The group finally withdrew from the vote and now refuses to participate in all so-called “urgency resolutions” on foreign policy, such as the one adopted today.

The vote comes in the context of media reporting on the chair of the European Parliament’s Bahrain friendship group, Tomas Zdechovsky, an MEP from EPP, who had an undeclared visit to the country in April 2022, where he met Bahrain’s chamber of commerce. Zdechovsky negotiated the Bahrain resolution on behalf of his group.  

The Left calls for stricter rules around ethics and transparency in all EU institutions, particularly in the context of the ongoing Qatar corruption scandal.