صراط عشق صراط عشق
The situation of Bahraini prisoner of conscience Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja has dramatically worsened, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement expressing grave concern.
Last February, the administration at Bahrain’s Jaw Prison prevented Al-Khawaja from receiving health care, including medical appointments to follow up on the condition of his right eye. It is important to note that he is being deprived of treatment he’d been receiving to specifically counter the effects of torture he was subjected to in prison.
According to his daughter Maryam Al-Khawaja, Bahraini authorities have continued to apply punitive measures against the detainee. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja informed his family during their most recent phone call on March 30 that “he will no longer be allowed to make calls”.
The isolation of Al-Khawaja from the outside world and the deliberate neglect to provide him with necessary medical care may indicate nefarious intentions that could amount to a slow killing. Al-Khawaja suffers from several diseases, and the threat of aggravation should raise an alarm, as complications could put his life in imminent danger. Cutting off contact with the outside world ensures that his physical and psychological health status will be concealed, and enables authorities to uphold this disgraceful policy.
Maryam Al-Khawaja believes that her father is being subjected to these measures on the basis that he chanted slogans supporting the Palestinians and denouncing Israeli policies in the prison yard last February.
Since his arrest, Al-Khawaja’s health has rapidly deteriorated as a result of torture-a seemingly deliberate policy of medical neglect, as Jaw Prison’s administration consistently delays or cancels his medical appointments, even the most urgent ones, and refuses him access to copies of his medical records.
