Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Human rights activist Zainab Al-Khawaja said on Friday (June 10, 2016) that she took a hard decision to leave Bahrain to Denmark after Bahraini government pressured her.

In a long series of tweets posted on her personal Twitter account, Al-Khawaja explained that she took this step after she visited her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who is serving a life sentence and who encouraged her to leave the island kingdom because she has a"responsibility in defending the case" outside the country.

Al-Khawaja said that she learned from the rebellious youth a lot during this last period, stressing that she will not forget the injured, imprisoned and those who were tortured, as well as the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their country.

"My family has been in Bahrain since hundreds of years. My ancestors died in Bahrain before Al Khalifa came. This country is ours. Bahrain will always be in my heart," she concluded.

The Bahraini authorities released Al-Khawaja at the end of May for humanitarian reasons. Human rights activist Zainab Al-Khawaja was serving a jail sentence exceeding 3 years, over a number of charges including tearing up a photo of Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Arabic Version