Bahrain’s top opposition party has suspended talks with the government following the arrest of its deputy leader. Al Wefaq says it will halt a national dialogue with the Sunni monarchy over the detention of Khalil al-Marzouq on charges of inciting terrorism. The Bahraini government has waged a crackdown on opposition protesters since an uprising broke out in February 2011. In an audio message to supporters released this week, the jailed Bahraini human rights activist Zainab Alkhawaja recited a passage from a poem in dedication to her father, human rights attorney Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who is serving a life sentence.

Zainab Alkhawaja: “If one day, the people desire to live, then fate will answer their calls, and the night will begin to fade away, and their chains to break and fall.”