Officials in Bahrain have prevented the wife and infant son of a London-based dissident from leaving the country to join him.
It is the latest example of a crackdown by the Gulf state, which has been criticised by human rights groups for imposing travel bans and arresting its opponents.
Duaa Alwadaei was prevented by Bahraini immigration officers from boarding a London-bound flight on Wednesday. The move came hours after her husband, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird), protested against a visit by the king of Bahrain to Downing Street.
Alwadaei claims that during a seven-hour interrogation, a senior official told his wife she was being questioned and subjected to a travel ban because of his work. On the same day his wife was detained, Alwadaei had attended the protest outside No 10 against the visit of the king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa. Two protesters were briefly held by police.
In the hours before his wife’s interrogation, several threats were apparently made against Alwadei and his family on social media.
Alwadaei, a torture survivor who claimed asylum in the UK in 2012, was stripped of his citizenship by Bahrain’s interior ministry in 2015, leaving him stateless. The couple’s son, Sayed Yousif, was born in the US, and holds US citizenship.
The dissident claims that the Bahraini police questioned his wife on his appearance at the protest, his organisation, and her life in London. He says his wife’s interrogator threatened to charge her with assaulting a police officer, which carries a three-year sentence.
In a statement, the Bahraini embassy in London said: “Upon her departure at Bahrain’s airport to her London destination, Mrs Alwadaei was briefly detained for questioning, searched and released. At no time was she abused or mistreated by authorities. It bears noting that the office of the ombudsman is available to anyone who feels their rights have been abused and will open an investigation into matters brought to their attention.”
Nick McGeehan, Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch, spoke to Duaa Alwadaei on Friday. He said: “This is a contemptible and cowardly attempt on the part of the Bahraini authorities to take retribution against the family of a prominent UK-based Bahraini exile and activist who protested against the king of Bahrain’s visit to see the Queen and the prime minister,” McGeehan said.
Maya Foa, a director of human rights group Reprieve, said: “Reprieve is seriously concerned at Bahrain’s reprisals against Sayed’s family for a peaceful protest in London. Freedom of expression might be banned in Bahrain, but the British government cannot allow Bahrain to punish people who demonstrate in the UK against human rights abuses such as torture and executions. Duaa and her baby must be allowed to leave Bahrain immediately and return to their home in London with Sayed.”