Prominent Bahrain opposition activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, along with twenty of his co-defendants, will receive a retrial, an appeals court has ruled.
All were convicted last year by military tribunals on charges of attempting to overthrow the government of the tiny island kingdom. Their trials were widely seen as part of a crackdown designed to end anti-regime protests in the country, which came on the heels of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
The activists’ cases will now be referred to a civilian court.
Al-Khawaja, 52, who received a life sentence in last year’s trial, has been on a hunger strike for nearly three months, and it is not known whether he intends to continue.
The activist’s family condemned the retrial decision. “Abdulhadi Alkhawaja did not go on #HungerStrike saying death or retrial, he said death or freedom. A retrial doesn’t mean much,” tweeted his daughter Maryam.
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