Maryam Al-Khawaja

Maryam al-Khawaja is currently the Acting President as the president, Nabeel Rajab, is in prison. Ordinarily Alkhawaja is the Vice President and Head of International Office for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights . AlKhawaja is also the co-Director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights. In Bahrain, al-Khawaja played an instrumental role in the democratic protests taking place in the Pearl Roundabout in February 2011, which triggered a government response of widespread extra judicial killings, arrest, torture, discrimination, sackings and fear to suppress dissent and quell voices for reform. She is the daughter of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, who went on a 110 day hunger strike protesting human rights violations and was among a group of high-profile activists and opposition leaders sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2011. Although she has since left Bahrain to play her role in the BCHR and to avoid arrest and/or imprisonment, she remains very connected to events on the ground and has emerged as a leading voice for human rights and political reform in Bahrain and the Gulf region. She has been influential in shaping official responses to the atrocities in Bahrain around the world by engaging with prominent European and American policymakers in her advocacy efforts.