Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja wears 12 years behind bars. A historical figure of defiance Bahrainhis health had deteriorated in recent months and for this reason his daughter, Maryam, also a human rights defender, proposed to him to change.

“I don’t know how much time is left I don’t want to wait for him to come out of jail in a coffin. To the government of Bahrain: You have tried to silence me for years. The last time I sat in the cell was because my father’s life was in danger and I decided to return to my country to save my father. I’m willing to do it again. I am willing to go back and trade for my fatherso that he can receive the treatment he needs,” Maryam al-Khawaja said on Wednesday in a video on her TikTok profile.

Abdulhadi was arrested in 2011 for participating in protests that, between that year and 2012, demanded democratic changes and an end to the monarchy in Bahrain. That Arabian Springan unprecedented wave of citizen discontent in the region, leading to the overthrow of authoritarian leaders in Egypt or Tunisia, but in others, such as Syria or Bahrain, it has meant a tightening of repression against dissent.

More than 1,400 political prisoners are serving time in this oil-rich monarchical Gulf state and home to the Formula 1 Grand Prix, according to the UK-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. A figure that represents almost half of all imprisoned in this country.

On 9 April 2011, security forces broke into Abdulhadi al-Khawajaj’s home and took him away by force. Activist, from Dual citizenship of Denmark and Bahrain, was sentenced to life in prison for denouncing human rights abuses in the country and publicly calling for a republic. The United Nations, the European Union and various international organizations have described the sentence as arbitrary and unjust but, 12 years and several hunger strikes, Abdulhadi continues to be deprived of his freedom as his health deteriorates by the minute. He had been abused, physically, sexually and psychologically. He suffered a jaw fracture and several surgeries.

“This morning I received a call from my father. He urgently needs a cardiologist. He had to be taken to the hospital because of palpitations and difficulty breathing,” said Maryam, who lives between New York and Denmark, in the video.

His father has arrhythmia. According to Amnesty International, as soon as he arrived at the hospital, in the emergency room, Abdulhadi received an IV injection that stabilized his heartbeat. The doctors decided that he should be examined by a cardiologist. Just then, a man introduces himself as the head of hospital security He ordered her to handcuff him. He refused and was transferred back to prison. without being checked by an expert.

“He could have a heart attack at any moment,” insisted his daughter Maryam, who did not hesitate to ask the Danish government for help. The whole family moved across the country to Khawajaj when Maryam was still a baby. Both of his parents were already prominent activists and fled Bahrain fearing imprisonment in their country. Over the years, they finally returned and the fears became real.

“My parents did everything possible to give us the best childhood they could,” Maryam told the portal last year. World Citizen. When Maryam was 14 years old, her family returned to Bahrain. In the 10 years leading up to the outbreak of the Arab Spring protests, Maryam witnessed her father’s activism. “More than once, the government offered him money to stop talking, but he refused. He said it is important that there is always someone who denounces everything that is wrong in a country,” recalls Maryam. Now it was he who was raising his voice, to try to give back to his father the first gift he had given him: freedom.

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