Danish PM Urges Release Of Top Bahraini Pro-freedom Activist

Berlin, April 11, IRNA -- Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt on Tuesday called for the release of leading Bahraini pro-freedom activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is on a hunger strike for the last two months , according to Danish press reports. “Denmark urges Bahrain to release the Danish-Bahraini citizen and human rights activist al-Khawaja,” Thorning-Schmidt said Tuesday during her weekly news conference, adding that she had written to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain on the issue. In her letter to the Bahraini king, Thorning Schmidt said she had repeated the Danish government’s call for al-Khawaja be released. “At the same time we have also drawn in a broad network of our international political contacts to put pressure on Bahrain to further a release,” added Thorning-Schmidt. “What we are hearing is that al-Khawaja’s condition is highly critical and we are continuing our efforts at all levels,” she said. “We have contacted the Bahraini authorities at many levels, and Foreign Minister Villy Søvndal has worked intensely with this case,” said Thorning-Schmidt whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency. The prime minister’s remarks came following a statement by the United States on Monday in which it called on Bahrain to find a ‘humanitarian solution’ to al-Khawaja’s situation. In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that 'we are very concerned about the case of Mr. al-Khawaja, particularly with regard to his health.' Al-Khawaja who was sentenced with other opposition activists to life in jail over an alleged plot to topple the Bahraini al-Khalifa regime during a month-long protest a year ago, began a hunger strike on the night of February 8-9. Bahrain's largest opposition group Al-Wefaq reiterated its calls for his release on Monday in a statement accusing authorities of 'completely ignoring his deteriorating health which has reached a dangerous stage.'/end