Maryam al-Khawaja | |
|---|---|
 Alkhawaja during BBC interview | |
| Born | (1987-06-26)26 June 1987 (age 38) |
| Education | University of BahrainBA inEnglish Literature andAmerican Studies |
| Occupation | Human rights defender |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Parent(s) | Abdulhadi al-Khawaja Khadija Almousawi |
| Relatives | Zainab al-Khawaja (sister) |
| Website | http://www.gc4hr.org/ |
Maryam Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja (Arabic:مريم عبد الهادي الخواجة,romanized: Maryam ʻAbd al-Hādī al-Khawājah; born 26 June 1987)[1] is aBahraini-Danish human rights activist. She is the daughter of the Bahraini human rights activistAbdulhadi al-Khawaja and former co-director of theGulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR).[2] She is currently the Special Advisor on Advocacy with the GCHR, and works as a consultant with NGOs. She's a board member of the International Service for Human Rights and No Hiding Place. She serves as the Vice Chair on the Board of the Urgent Action Fund.
Al-Khawaja was born inSyria to mother, Khadija Almousawi, and Bahraini-Danish human rights activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja. Her father had been wanted in Bahrain since the mid-1980s. At the age of two her family obtained political asylum in Denmark.[3] They lived there until 2001, when they were allowed re-entry into Bahrain.[4]
After graduating from theUniversity of Bahrain in 2009, Al-Khawaja spent a year in the United States on aFulbright scholarship atBrown University. When she returned to Bahrain in mid-2010, however, she was unable to find work in public relations or education due to her father's human rights work. Instead she joined theBahrain Centre for Human Rights, co-founded by her father, where she headed the foreign relations office and became vice president, serving as acting president during BCHR's president,Nabeel Rajab's, periods of detention.[4]
On 22 June 2011, Al-Khawaja’s father was sentenced to life imprisonment in a military court on the charge of "organizing and managing a terrorist organization" for his role in the pro-democracy2011-2012 Bahraini uprising.[5]
Al-Khawaja was active in participating in protests and volunteering forhuman rights organizations since she was a young teenager. She also worked as a fixer and translator for journalists who came to Bahrain to report on the situation there. In 2006, Al-Khawaja was part of the delegation that went to theUN building inNew York City and met with the Secretary-General’s assistant to hand over the mass petition of demanding that the Prime Minister resign, due to his human rights violations. In 2008, Al-Khawaja was invited by theTom Lantos Human Rights Commission to testify atUS Congress about religious freedom in Bahrain. The government led a smear campaign in the media against the group of activists that spoke at this session including Al-Khawaja, and their case was adopted by organizations such as Frontline, OMCT and FIDH.
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Maryam al-Khawaja's participation in Oslo Freedom forum in May 2011 onYouTube |
After actively participating in the organizing of the earlypro-democracy demonstrations in 2011, Al-Khawaja embarked on an overseas speaking tour at colleges and conferences. During this tour, she held meetings withUK politicians, and spoke to theUnited Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.[6] With Nabeel Rajab prevented from leaving Bahrain, problems of access for the external media and at least 500 leading members of the opposition detained, al-Khawaja assumed a prominent public role outside Bahrain. According toJoe Stork ofHuman Rights Watch, BCHR recommended that she stay abroad given the likelihood of arrest if she returned.[4]
In April, al-Khawaja participated in the U.S.-Islamic World Forum,[7] where she was able to speak to then Secretary of StateHillary Clinton and tell the story of her father and two brothers in-law arrest. She implored Clinton for the United States to take a stronger stance against the oppression in Bahrain, and cited the Bahraini government's use of American weapons to suppress the protesters, as a reason for the United States to do.[8] In May, she spoke to the Oslo Freedom Forum about her experiences with government violence in Bahrain.[3][9] On 13 May, she gave evidence to a U.S. Congress hearing onHuman Rights in Bahrain.[10][11]
Before theBahraini uprising, Al-Khawaja was not active onTwitter, with no more than 30 followers. As of September 2017, she has more than 109,900 followers and had sent more than 51,000 tweets,[12] providing real-time coverage of various protests oft overlooked by many formal news agencies. As demonstrators flooded the streets, she stayed for days on end in Manama'sPearl Roundabout actively tweeting.[6]
Al-Khawaja has faced internet harassment from regime supporters.[4] She did not attend anIFEX in Lebanon in early June after receiving death threats.[13] Immediately after her speech to the Oslo Freedom Forum (streamed live online) a Twitter campaign began, accusing her of spreading false news, being a radical and working for the Iranian government. Many messages accusing Al-Khawaja of being a "traitor" for Bahrain were sent to the email account of Oslo Freedom Forum. Much of the tweeting, blogging and online harassment has originated in the U.S., inside the Geo-Political Solutions division of Qorvis Communications.[9] The campaign has also included apparently organized heckling.[9]
According toFIDH, in early May 2011, an anonymous smear campaign was launched against Nabeel Rajab and Al-Khawaja "with the active support of the Bahraini authorities."[14]
On 30 August 2014, while traveling to visit her father in Manama, Al-Khawaja was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer. She was released on bail and left Bahrain on 2 October 2014, boycotting her trial. In December, she was sentenced in absentia to one year in prison.[15] Bahrain maintains that al-Khawaja's arrest is valid.[16] She currently has an outstanding arrest warrant, and has four pending cases, one of which is filed under the Terrorism Law and could carry a life sentence or the death penalty.
In November 2023, Al-Khawaja was named to theBBC's100 Women list.[17]
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