Fra:
Bahrain Advocacy [mailto:[email protected]]
Sendt:
6. marts 2023
Til:
Folketingets formand
Emne:
ECDHR - Call for action in support of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja
Dear MP
Søren
Gade,
My name is Hugo KRUSKOVNJAK, advocacy assistant from the European Center for
Democracy & Human Rights (ECDHR), a Brussels-based NGO that seeks to promote
human rights and democracy in the Arab Gulf region.
Few days ago, we launched the campaign, ‘We
Race for Freedom’
with the aim of pressuring
the Bahraini government to immediately and unconditionally release detained Danish-
Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, born in 1961, is an
award-winning,
Danish-Bahraini human rights
defender. In the wake of the 2011 pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, he was
arbitrarily
arrested
and sentenced to life in prison. Since then, Mr Al-Khawaja
remains imprisoned
at
Jau Prison, where he has been and continues to be subjected to serious abuses including
torture, beatings, verbal abuse, threats of sexual assault, and long periods of solitary
confinement. He is being
denied
appropriate medical assistance, which Mr Al-Khawaja
necessitates as a result of the physical abuse suffered in prison and the several
hunger
strikes
he underwent to protest his detention and mistreatment.
In light of Al-Khawaja’s
enduring unjust detention and Bahrain’s deteriorating human rights
situation, we consider that the recent Bahrain Formula1 (F1) Grand Prix was used by the
Bahraini government to whitewash its appalling human rights record. We wanted to draw
your attention especially to the controversial implication of a Danish company (DSV
A/S:
Global Transport and Logistics)
sponsoring the event in a country that is illegally detaining
and abusing Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a Danish citizen.
Based on these concerns, we demand through this letter attached to take action in support
of Mr Al-Khawaja, including by calling on
DSV A/S: Global Transport and Logistics
to better
comply with its human rights obligations.
We thank you very much for your consideration and remain available for any additional
information you may need. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Hugo KRUSKOVNJAK
| Advocacy Assistance
European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
Brussels, Belgium
+33770746535
Twitter: @ECDHRbxl
www.ecdhr.org