AhlulBayt News Agency

source : PressTV
Monday

30 April 2012

8:05:00 AM
312067

Jailed Bahraini hunger striker 'al-Khawaja' drugged and force-fed, his wife says

Prominent jailed Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has been “drugged and force-fed” in the military hospital he is being held, his wife says.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - “I went to see my husband today and he told me that he was drugged last Monday,” Khadija al-Mousawi said on Sunday.

Mousawi was allowed to visit her husband for the first time in two weeks on Sunday.

“After he woke up he found two IV (intravenous) injections in his arms and a feeding-tube down his nose. It was done against his will,” Mousawi said, adding that Khawaja is “weak but in good spirits.”

However, a spokesperson for the Bahrain Defense Forces Hospital claimed on Sunday the jailed activist “has not been force-fed or treated against his will.”

“At no time was he drugged or restrained,” claimed the Bahraini official, whose name was not mentioned in the news report.

Mousawi also said a doctor had told Khawaja that it was his duty to force-feed him to keep the activist alive, but her husband considered the matter as a violation of his rights.

“My husband told them he will only accept (the intravenous feeding) until his trial on Monday and depending on the outcome will decide what to do next.”

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who holds dual Danish and Bahraini nationality, was given a life sentence in June 2011 over accusations of inciting protests against the Manama regime.

/129