Daughter of detained activist Maryam al-Khawaja 'turned away' from London flight to Bahrain

A daughter of a long-detained human rights activist in Bahrain tried to return to the island kingdom on Friday to press for her father's release but was turned away from her flight in London.

Maryam al-Khawaja was accompanied by a phalanx of other activists, including the secretary-general of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, seeking to prevent authorities from immediately detaining her.

But before she could board her British Airways flight, she said she was prevented from checking in as Bahraini immigration officials told the airline not to allow her on the plane.

Her attempted trip came as her father, 62-year-old Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, has resumed a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his yearslong imprisonment on internationally criticized charges stemming from him leading 2011 Arab Spring demonstrations in Bahrain.

The attempt also renews pressure on Denmark, where both al-Khawajas have citizenship, and the United States, which signed a new defense understanding with Bahrain this week during a trip to Washington by the island nation's crown prince.

“So we tried to check in here at the BA counter and we were told that they are not allowed to board us despite my being a Bahraini citizen,” Maryam al-Khawaja said in a video message, holding her red Bahraini passport and flanked by activists.

“It's incredibly disappointing as this could have been — may have been — my last chance to see my dad,” she added.

Bahrain's government did not respond to requests for comment about al-Khawaja's trip but has insisted that her father has received proper medical care in custody. British Airways did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Denying Maryam and us the chance to travel to Bahrain will not silence us,” the rights group Front Line Defenders, which also sent a representative for the flight, said. “We will double our efforts to call on all those in the international community to urge and push Bahraini authorities to do the right thing, and free Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and other unjustly imprisoned” activists.

In the last month, hundreds of prisoners at the Jaw Rehabilitation and Reform Center in Bahrain, which also holds Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, went on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their detention.

It marked one of the largest demonstrations against Bahrain's Al Khalifa royal family in the decade since it, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, violently put down the Arab Spring protests. The Sunni Al Khalifa family has ruled over the majority Shiite island in the Persian Gulf since 1783.

The prisoners suspended their hunger strike during this week's visit to Washington by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, though al-Khawaja resumed his over reportedly being denied access to health care ahead of his daughter's attempted trip.

It remains unclear what would have happened to Maryam al-Khawaja if she had made it to Bahrain. She still faces a variety of charges on the island, including what she described as unclear terrorism charges that could carry a life sentence.

British Airways said in a statement to The New Arab about the blocking al-Khawaja's from boarding the flight: "All airlines are legally obliged to comply with immigration control laws and entry requirements for customers as set by individual countries."