Daughter of a long-detained human rights activist in Bahrain says she has cancer, urges his release

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The daughter of a long-detained human rights activist in Bahrain said she has been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and again called for her father's release.

Maryam al-Khawaja also urged Denmark, where both al-Khawajas have citizenship, to do more to free her father, 62-year-old Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. She also asked Denmark to end arms sales to Israel and to push to halt fighting amid Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“I urge the Danish government to lead with its stated human rights values: to leverage its diplomatic power to release my father and decisively end all arm sales and demand a cease-fire in Gaza,” she said in the statement issued Monday. "Only then, can all of our families finally be safely together.”

In a statement to The Associated Press, Bahrain’s government did not acknowledge al-Khawaja’s cancer announcement, instead saying that her father had “all his legal rights afforded to him, including a fair trial and the right to appeal.”