Maryam al-Khawaja awarded human rights prize

A Danish-Bahraini human rights activist is to be awarded for her role to promote democracy in Bahrain, where her father is imprisoned for life as a political dissident

Maryam al-Khawaja  daughter of the jailed Danish-Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja – will be awarded the Stieg Larsson Prize on November 8 in recognition of her work to promote democracy and human rights.

25-year-old Maryam al-Khawaja played a vital role in reporting the crackdown on pro-democracy and civil society groups before and during the Arab Spring uprisings.

“With the internet and social media as a tool, and through untiring activism and the power of the word, she turns the spotlight on injustices in her home country. In spite of threats and harassment against herself and her family she continues to work for a tolerant and more democratic state of Bahrain,” a press release from the Stieg Larsson Foundation stated. “Her achievements are entirely in the spirit of Stieg Larsson.”

Her father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was granted political asylum in Denmark in 1991 and he and his family eventually became Danish citizens. He returned to Bahrain in 1999 and established the pro-democracy organisation Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) in 2002. He was arrested for his work in April 2011 and jailed since June of that year. He protested against his sentence with a high-profile 110-day hunger strike that he called off in May. His life sentence was upheld this September.

Maryam al-Khawaja started working at the BCHR at a young age. At the age of 21, she testified before the US Congressional Human Rights Commission about the suppression of the Shia majority in Bahrain.

After returning from studying in the US, she became BCHR’s international liaison and deputy head. Her base of operations is in Denmark as she risks arrest if she were to remain in Bahrain.

The Stieg Larsson Foundation was established after the author’s death in 2004. Larsson was most famous for the Millennium Trilogy, a set of thrillers following the protagonists Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander as they attempted to unravel a dark conspiracy.

The foundation’s website states that Larsson was as much an activist as he was a writer, who fought “for freedom of expression, against racism and against the oppression of women".





  • Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 of September, The Copenhagen Post will be at International Citizen Days in Øksnehallen on Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Admission is free and thousands of internationals are expected to attend

  • Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Chisom Udeze, the founder of Diversify – a global organization that works at the intersection of inclusion, democracy, freedom, climate sustainability, justice, and belonging – shares how struggling to find a community in Norway motivated her to build a Nordic-wide professional network. We also hear from Dr. Poornima Luthra, Associate Professor at CBS, about how to address bias in the workplace.

  • Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality, home to Denmark’s largest infrastructure project – the Fehmarnbelt tunnel connection to Germany – has launched a new jobseeker support package for the accompanying partners of international employees in the area. The job-to-partner package offers free tailored sessions on finding a job and starting a personal business.