Maryam al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights activist and the current head of foreign relations office for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Al-Khawaja has been an outspoken voice during the recent protests in Bahrain, giving many insights into the violence against peaceful demonstrators at the hands of the Bahraini government. She is an active member of the Bahraini youth movement and campaigns for an end to discrimination against Shiites in Bahrain. Al-Khawaja left Bahrain to attend Brown University as a Fulbright scholar; she recently returned to Bahrain to take part in the protests following the “Jasmine Revolution" and to report on unfolding events.

About

Commitment to equality and the struggle for human rights are rooted in Maryam Al-Khawaja’s family. Her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, is a prominent human rights activist and is the former president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Al-Khawaja was born in Syria after the continuous persecution of her father by the Bahraini government for his activities as a human rights defender. At age two, she and her family were granted political asylum in Denmark, where she lived for 12 years before returning to Bahrain.

According to Al-Khawaja, she and her family lived with the constant worry that they would receive a call informing them that their father was “disappeared" or was in a hospital. She personally witnessed her father return home from peaceful demonstrations many times with signs of torture and beatings, usually inflicted by Bahraini Special Security Forces. After her father was imprisoned, Al-Khawaja peacefully protested for his release and the amnesty of other political prisoners. She observed first-hand the brutality of the Special Security Forces as they physically beat and verbally assaulted many of her fellow demonstrators. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja was beaten and arrested by police forces for calling on the government to be held accountable for the brutal crackdown on recent protests and currently remains imprisoned.

Al-Khawaja has campaigned tirelessly for Shiite rights in Bahrain. In 2007, she led a BBC crew to Shiite villages as a translator to interview victims of the systematic oppression of Shiites and to expose the dire situation they face in Bahrain, where Shiites are discriminated against in all sectors of society. She listens to stories of discrimination and injustice and conveys the victims’ messages to international audiences through her advocacy.