Bahrain's Activist Nabeel Rajab Released While Abdulhadi al-Khawaja Ends Hunger Strike

Bahrain's opposition have welcomed the news that prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been released on bail and opposition activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has decided to end a 110-day long hunger strike.

Rajab said he paid a bail of $800 but it is unclear when his trial for using social media to insult Bahraini authorities and encourage demonstrations will resume.

Rajab, who is the president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was arrested on May 5, amid an international outcry from rights groups.

With 140,000 Twitter followers, Rajab is a high-profile user of Twitter and a vocal critic of Bahrain's ruler, King Hamad al-Khalifa.

Khawaja, who is being retried along with 20 opposition activists for his involvment in pro-democracy protests last year, began his hunger strike on February 8.

He confirmed in a statement that he will be stopping his hunger strike while continuing to boycott the court sessions which he believes "are just not fair". Khawaja confirmed that the main goal of his hunger strike had not been achieved, but the "overall purpose of helping activists shed light on the on-going human rights violations happening in Bahrain".

The activist accused the hospital of force-feeding him since April 23 and "due to continuous requests from friends and colleagues" he has decided to end the hunger strike. The force-feeding is considered torture according to international standards, he denounced.

The 51-year-old appeared in court last week in a wheelchair, reportedly looking "frail and weak".

He was too ill to attend the previous hearing on 8 May. The activist narrated the dramatic events following his detention in April 2011.

"There was a moment of silence when he spoke about the psychological torture when they lied to him about arresting [their daughter] Zainab... torturing, raping Zainab and moving her to a jail in Saudi Arabia. This must have been harder than the torture itself," she wrote on the social networking site.

Khawaja was seized in a late night raid at his daughter's house. According to his family, he was also beaten by police and not allowed to take his medication with him.

The National Safety Council accused Khawaja and 20 other activists of "setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution". He was sentenced to life imprisonment based on a confession that he said was extracted from him under duress.

Khawaja claimed he and members of his family were sexually abused by military forces while they were in hospital. He spent seven days there blindfolded and handcuffed.

He went on hunger strike in prison with those arrested alongside him to protest against their convictions.

Denmark asked for him to be released on the grounds that he has Danish citizenship, but the Supreme Judicial Council rejected the request.