Bahrain Mirror- Exclusive: Activist Maryam Al-Khawaja said in a tweet on her own Twitter account thet her sister, Zainab Al-Khawaja, started a silent hunger strike in solidarity with Ali Mushaima who is demanding basic prisoner rights for his 70 year old father, Hasan Mushaima, a prisoner of conscience in Bahrain.

Zainab had visited Ali Mushaima in his protest place in front of the Bahraini Embassy in London.

Maryam reported her sister's letter in which she said "Today, I start a silent hunger strike in support of Ali Mushaima in his fight for his father, who represents the thousands of political prisoners suffering in Bahraini prisons. Ali is now on his 35th day of hunger strike, he has not eaten for more than a month, and has lived on the street to demand basic prisoner rights for his father. Ali is striking for not only the thousands of political prisoners in Bahrain, but their family members who live every day knowing their mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers are living without access to adequate medical treatment in unsanitary, abusive conditions. Ali has lost 14 kilos and was hospitalized.

"All my pill are either finished or almost finished. Some of these pill I can't be without even for a day. It is too painful Hasan Mushaima told his son Ali. Mushaima, who used to be an English teacher, is now a 70 year old cancer survivor, a torture survivor and a political prisoner. He is also one of the most beloved leaders of the pro-democracy movement in Bahrain. He has been in prison for the past seven and a half years for demanding freedom and democracy for the people of Bahrain. Ali has followed in his father's footsteps and is a very well-known activist who has been heroically fighting for the rights of Bahrainis for more than a decade. Three days after that phone call from his father, Ali decided to do something to save his father's life, so he started a hunger strike at the door of the Bahraini embassy in London, where he is in exile. Not only his father not had any family visits for a year and a half and had all his books confiscated, he doesn't even have access to his medications," Al-Khawaja added in her letter.

Maryam and Zainab's father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, is one of fellow prisoners of Mushaima in Jaw Prison, imprisoned along with number of leaders of the pro-democracy movement in February 14 within what is known as case of the 14 figures.

Arabic Version