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UN expert calls on Bahrain to release detained activist

FILE - In this file photo taken Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, Bahraini opposition activist Zainab al-Khawaja checks her cellphone as she waits to hear about her detained sister, Maryam al-Khawaja, outside the court in Manama, Bahrain. Bahraini police detained the political activist and her 1-year-old son Monday, a raid coming on the fifth anniversary of Saudi and Emirati soldiers putting down Arab Spring-inspired protests in the tiny island kingdom. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) FILE - In this file photo taken Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, Bahraini opposition activist Zainab al-Khawaja checks her cellphone as she waits to hear about her detained sister, Maryam al-Khawaja, outside the court in Manama, Bahrain. Bahraini police detained the political activist and her 1-year-old son Monday, a raid coming on the fifth anniversary of Saudi and Emirati soldiers putting down Arab Spring-inspired protests in the tiny island kingdom. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File)

By Associated Press March 18, 2016 1 min read

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) – A United Nations expert has called on Bahrain to release an activist recently detained along with her year-old son in the island kingdom.

Michel Forst, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, made the statement Friday regarding the detention of Zainab al-Khawaja and her son, Abdulhadi.

Al-Khawaja is a daughter of a prominent activist serving a life sentence over 2011 Arab Spring-inspired protests in the small nation off the coast of Saudi Arabia.

She faces several years in prison on a variety of charges linked to her activism, including tearing up pictures of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, saw its Shiite majority protest the kingdom’s Sunni rulers in 2011, demanding more political freedoms. Smaller-scale protests continue today.