Zainab Alkhawaja, daughter of human rights activist and former president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, has gone on hunger strike demanding that authorities release her father and three other members of her immediate family.

Security forces are alleged to have used excessive and violent force in apprehending the suspects in their private residence without any search or arrest warrants. Zainab has also written an open letter to US president Barack Obama urging him to help free her family. Meanwhile on Twitter, seven other activists have vowed to join in the hunger strike.