A Bahrain court on Monday ordered retrials for a prominent hunger striker and 20 others convicted by a military-led tribunal in crackdowns against the 14-month-old uprising in the Gulf kingdom.
The decision shifts the cases to Bahrain’s highest appeals court and was seen as a victory for supporters of rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and other opposition figures sentenced last year during a period of martial law-style rules imposed by Bahrain’s rulers.
But there appeared no immediate openings for the release of the group, which include some of the top figures in protests by Bahrain’s majority Shiites seeking to break the near monopoly on power held by the Western-backed Sunni dynasty.
At least 50 people have been killed in unrest since February 2011 in the strategic kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Al-Khawaja’s nearly three-month hunger strike has become the latest rallying point for the demonstrations.
The official Bahrain News Agency described the appeals process for al-Khawaja as if “it were a trial for the first time.”
“The court reconsiders the proceedings from the beginning and listens to the witnesses and the prosecution and defence arguments,” it said.
Defence Attorney Hassan Radhi said the appeals court will decide whether to grant bail while the review is under way. No date has been set to begin the appeal proceedings, he said.
It also was not immediately clear whether al-Khawaja would continue his hunger strike, which began on Feb. 8 and which according to his family has brought him close to death. He was visited by his wife on Sunday, who claimed he was being force fed with tubes and IVs against his will. Bahraini officials said al-Khawaja agreed to all procedures.
