MOSCOW, August 31 (RIA Novosti) - Bahraini Human Rights Activist, Maryam al-Khawaja, was taken into custody on Saturday when she arrived at Bahrain International Airport, Reuters reports.
"Maryam told me that she will be transferred to the court tomorrow," said her mother, adding that Maryam was charged with offending Bahrain's king and assaulting police officers.
According to the Bahrain’s police complaint, Maryam demonstrated aggressive behavior in front of two police officers. Bahraini authorities have launched an investigation into the case, ordering the young woman to 7 days of pretrial detention.
Khawaja spent the last year in Europe and was coming back, to visit her father Abdulhadi Abdulla Hubail al-Khawaja – a Shi'ite Muslim activist who has been detained in Bahrain since 2011 and is currently on a hunger strike.
Maryam al-Khawaja is one of the most prominent representatives of the governmental opposition. She has criticized Bahrain’s Sunni government and works to protect the rights of Shi'ite Muslims who represent the majority of the country’s population, but remain politically and economically isolated. The crisis remains unresolved, since the Bahraini government denies the fact of Shi’ite marginalization and, apparently, is not going to undertake any measures to settle the situation.
