Dubai: A Bahrain court ruled on Saturday that rights activist Mariam Al Khawaja be kept behind bars for an extra 10 days despite a UN call for her release, her lawyer said.
The Bahraini co-director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, who also has Danish nationality, was arrested on August 30 on arrival in Manama in connection with an assault on a police officer at the airport.
Her lawyer, Mohammad Al Jishi, told AFP by phone that the judge ordered that Mariam be kept in custody on the same charge.
The United Nations called on Friday for Bahrain to release Mariam, a daughter of opponent Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja.
He was jailed for life following 2011 protests against authorities in the kingdom.
Ravina Shamdasani, the spokeswoman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Friday the agency was “seriously concerned” that Mariam had been arrested.
“We urge the government to take immediate steps to release Ms Khawaja and all human rights defenders and individuals detained for the peaceful exercise of their rights,” she said in a statement.
Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja, who was convicted of plotting to topple the monarchy, has been on hunger strike along with other inmates since August 25.
He staged a 110-day hunger strike in 2012 in protest against his imprisonment.
Tiny but strategic Bahrain, home base for the US Fifth Fleet, remains deeply divided three years after the authorities quelled month-long protests with Saudi-led military backing.
