Bahrain Activist Khawaja to End 110-Day Hunger Strike
Opposition activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, facing a life sentence on charges of seeking to overthrow Bahrain's Sunni rulers, will on Monday end a hunger strike that lasted 110 days, his lawyer said.
The Shiite activist "will end his hunger strike this (Monday) evening," Mohammed al-Jishi said.
Jishi said that "more details on Khawaja's decision to end his hunger strike will be announced later."
Khawaja, who was arrested in April last year following a government crackdown on Shiite-dominated protests, began his hunger strike on February 8.
The former head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, who has dual Bahraini and Danish nationalities, was convicted last June by a military tribunal, along with 20 other activists, of plotting to overthrow the government.
Seven activists, including Khawaja, were jailed for life, while 14 others were sentenced to between two and 15 years in prison.
But he is being retried in a civil court along with 12 others. A new hearing is slated for Tuesday.
He appeared in court on Tuesday last week, in his first appearance since he began his hunger strike. Arriving in a wheelchair, he looked frail, but he told the court that he was force-fed in prison.
Source: Agence France Presse
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