(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Bahrain's highest appeals court on Monday ordered the retrial of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a jailed opposition activist who has been on hunger strike since February 8, and other dissidents, their lawyer said.
"The court accepted the appeal [against the verdict of a special tribunal] and ordered a trial in the court of appeal," a civil court, Mohamed al-Jishy told AFP after a brief hearing.
"We were hoping the verdict would be annulled but the decision will give us an opportunity to defend our clients," Jishy said, adding that no date was yet set for the new trial.
Khawaja was jailed with 14 other mostly Shia activists in June last year.
"I think he will not stop this strike as this verdict brought no big change" to his situation, said another lawyer Mohammed al-Tajer.
Khawaja, who has become a symbol of the opposition movement, was arrested last April shortly after the regime crushed a month-long anti-discrimination uprising.
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has been “drugged and force-fed” in the military hospital he is being held, his wife says.
“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.”
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"The court accepted the appeal [against the verdict of a special tribunal] and ordered a trial in the court of appeal," a civil court, Mohamed al-Jishy told AFP after a brief hearing.
"We were hoping the verdict would be annulled but the decision will give us an opportunity to defend our clients," Jishy said, adding that no date was yet set for the new trial.
Khawaja was jailed with 14 other mostly Shia activists in June last year.
"I think he will not stop this strike as this verdict brought no big change" to his situation, said another lawyer Mohammed al-Tajer.
Khawaja, who has become a symbol of the opposition movement, was arrested last April shortly after the regime crushed a month-long anti-discrimination uprising.
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has been “drugged and force-fed” in the military hospital he is being held, his wife says.
“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.”
/129