Front Line Defenders has launched the ‘Set Them Free’ campaign to shine a light on the fate of 11 human rights defenders suffering long-term imprisonment for what the group has called "their legitimate work defending and advancing the rights of their communities".

A lawyer representing Bahraini hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja says the activist will end his strike today, 110 days after he began refusing food.

Nervous shop owners closed their doors and security forces fanned out across Bahrain’s capital in attempts to quell widening unrest that threatened to overshadow the return of the Formula One Grand Prix to the Gulf kingdom.

Authorities in Bahrain have detained and beaten a prominent activist amid a continued crackdown on the opposition in the tiny Gulf nation, according to a human rights group.