Daughter of long-imprisoned activist in Bahrain to return to island in bid to push for his release

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A daughter of a long-detained human rights activist in Bahrain says she will return to the island nation to press for his release. The planned trip comes while he and hundreds of other inmates in the country are on a major hunger strike. Maryam al-Khawaja also faces the risk of imprisonment herself. Her 62-year-old ailing father is Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a dual Danish-Bahraini national convicted of internationally criticized terrorism charges and held in what a United Nations panel calls an “arbitrary” imprisonment ever since. Her planned trip also raises the stakes of the monthlong hunger strike in Bahrain just ahead of a planned visit to the United States by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.