1. Zainab Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights activist, and a participant in the Bahraini uprising.
15 Facts About Zainab al-Khawaja
1. 2.
Zainab al-Khawaja rose to prominence after posting tweets online about the protests under the name AngryArabiya as well as for protesting her father Abdulhadi al-Khawaja's detention during his hunger strike.
3.
Zainab al-Khawaja is married to Wafi Al-Majed, and they have a daughter named Jude and a son named Abdulhadi.
4.
Zainab al-Khawaja's father is Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, former president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, and former director of the Middle East-North Africa region for the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders' Front Line.
5.
Zainab al-Khawaja criticized the administration of US President Barack Obama for "standing behind the dictator".
6.
On 26 November 2011, a US journalist witnessed Zainab al-Khawaja standing her ground alone in front of oncoming riot police; he reported that tear gas shells were being fired just past her head.
7.
Zainab al-Khawaja later told Amnesty International that she was beaten while in custody.
8.
Zainab al-Khawaja was arrested again on 12 February 2012, as she tried with other female demonstrators to reach Manama's Pearl Roundabout.
9.
Zainab al-Khawaja stated she had not been mistreated while in detention, attributing it to the government's fear of "bad media" rather than respect of prisoners' rights.
10.
Zainab al-Khawaja was formally charged with disrupting the traffic and insulting an officer.
11.
In December 2014, Zainab al-Khawaja was sentenced to three years in prison for tearing up a picture of King Hamad.
12.
Zainab al-Khawaja was held in custody in a local police station with her baby before being transferred to Isa Town Women's Prison.
13.
The announcement that Zainab al-Khawaja was set to be released came only hours after British foreign minister Philip Hammond visited Bahrain and praised the country's "commitment to continuing reform".
14.
In September 2018, Zainab al-Khawaja joined a hunger strike outside her country's embassy in London, demanding medical aid and better treatment for prisoners in Bahrain.
15.
Zainab al-Khawaja announced that she would be launching a hunger strike in solidarity with Ali Mushaima, a Bahraini activist who was briefly hospitalised on his 36th day of a hunger strike.