Cross-posted from The Human Rights Foundation
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) condemns the arbitrary arrests of Maryam al-Khawaja, co-director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), and Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, president of the Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons (APRODH), and calls on the governments of Bahrain and Burundi to release them immediately. Al-Khawaja was detained last week by Bahraini authorities as she arrived to the island kingdom to visit her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a political prisoner currently in critical condition on hunger strike. Mbonimpa was jailed in May as part of a pre-election crackdown after criticizing Burundi’s ruling party on a radio program.
“Al-Khawaja and Mbonimpa have been imprisoned for speaking truth to power, in countries where power is exercised monolithically and despotically,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF. “In each case, a leading human rights defender has been arrested for pointing out government abuses. These are people that would be notable intellectuals in any democracy, but, as with so many peaceful dissidents in history that have refused to bow to dictators, their defiance is bound to land them in jail,” added Halvorssen.
For three years, al-Khawaja has worked with the GCHR, traveling the world to expose the abuses of Bahrain’s monarchy. According to her lawyer, al-Khawaja's citizenship has been stripped while she is in detention, and she faces charges that include “insulting the king.” Her father is serving a life sentence for his peaceful criticism of the regime and has been tortured in prison. Her sister Zainab has also served jail time. Al-Khawaja received the Rafto Prize in 2013 on behalf of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2011 and 2012.
Mbonimpa has, for decades, acted as a voice against government repression in Burundi. In May, he was arrested on charges of “endangering national security” after giving a radio interview, in which he accused government officials of providing military training to Burundian citizens in the conflict-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over the summer, Mbonimpa’s supporters have taken to the streets to protest his arrest. He received the 2007 Martin Ennals Prize and spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2010.
“Because of the authoritarian nature of these governments and their generalized practice of harassment and incarceration of human rights defenders, the arrests of al-Khawaja and Mbonimpa are presumed arbitrary and in violation of Articles 9 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a treaty ratified by both Bahrain and Burundi,” said HRF general counsel Javier El-Hage. “If these countries want to start taking their international obligations seriously, they must release both human rights defenders immediately,” added El-Hage.
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. We believe that all human beings are entitled to freedom of self-determination, freedom from tyranny, the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF’s International Council includes human rights advocates George Ayittey, Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Garry Kasparov, Mutabar Tadjibaeva, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.
