Prominent Bahraini rights activist goes on trial

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MANAMA: A prominent Bahraini human rights activist went on military trial on Thursday, his daughters said, after the Gulf Arab kingdom launched a crackdown on protesters.

Sunni-led Bahrain saw the worst unrest since the 1990s in the past two months when protesters, mostly from the country's Shi'ite majority, took to the streets as Arab uprisings spread across the region.

The demonstrations prompted Bahrain's king to impose martial law and invite in troops from Sunni-ruled neighbours.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was arrested with two sons-in-law earlier this month as part of a government crackdown enforced with checkpoints across the city and Shi'ite villages.

Hundreds of people, many of them opposition activists and politicians, have been arrested. The government says only those accused of committing crimes have been arrested and that all accusations will be investigated.

"The trial against him (Khawaja) started today but we family members were not allowed to enter the court. I don't know what charges are brought against him," his daughter Zainab al-Khawaja said.

"My father called last night. He didn't sound fine. I think he has a mouth injury because he could barely speak," she said.

"He kept saying oppression is great," said Khawaja, who on Thursday stopped a week-long hunger strike to demand the release of her family members.

Khawaja, who lived in exile for 12 years before he was allowed to return under a general amnesty several years ago, was severely beaten upon his arrest, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said.

He had been imprisoned for political dissent in 2004 and later pardoned by the king. (Reuters)