Bahraini woman willing to die if family is not released

Zainab al-Khawaja enters fourth day of hunger strike as government is accused of human rights violations

• Robert Booth
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 April 2011 22.09 BST
• Article history

Zainab al-Khawaja is about to enter the fourth day of her hunger strike. Photograph: Hasan Jamali/AP
A Bahraini woman who witnessed her father, a well-known human rights activist, being seized by masked soldiers, beaten unconscious and then taken into custody, has told the Guardian that she is willing to die on hunger strike unless he is released. Zainab al-Khawaja, 27, will today enter her fourth day without food in protest at the violent arrest and subsequent disappearance of the outspoken dissident Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, 50, along with her husband and brother-in-law. Zainab, who was brought up in exile in Denmark, is taking only water, and told the Guardian she is already feeling weak, with breast-feeding sapping her strength faster than she had expected. She says she will leave her 18-month-old child with family members if she dies.Continued