Anonymous has hacked and executed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against official and fan-created Formula 1 websites. The group is protesting the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain.

Greetings from Anonymous

For over one year the people of Bahrain have struggled against the oppressive regime of King Hamad bin Al Khalifa. They have been murdered in the streets, run over with vehicles, beaten, tortured, tear gassed, kidnapped by police, had their businesses vandalised by police, and have tear gas thrown in to their homes on a nightly basis.

Still the regmine persists to deny any meaningful reform and continues to use brutal and violent tactics to oppress the popular calls for reformation. Not only is the Human Rights situation in Bahrain tragic, it becomes more drastic with each passing day. For these reasons the F1 Grand Prix in Bahrain should be strongly opposed. The Al Khalifa regime stands to profit heavily off the race and has promised to use live ammunition against protestors in preparation. They have already begun issuing collective punishment to entire villages for protests and have promised further retribution "to keep order" for the F1 events in Bahrain. The Formula 1 racing authority was well-aware of the Human Rights situation in Bahrain and still chose to contribute to the regime's oppression of civilians and will be punished.

We demand the immediate release of human rights worker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja who has spent over 70 days on hunger strike. He has committed no crimes and is being punished by the regime for advocating people's basic human rights. Free him and all other political prisoners in Bahrain. End torture. Deport all mercenary police and stop the use of tear gas against civilians.

We Do Not Forgive. We Do Not Forget. Expect Us

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja began a hunger strike while in prison to protest the life sentence he received from a military tribunal in June 2011. On Thursday of last week he stopped drinking water, and summoned a lawyer to help him write his will. His daughter, Zainab, sent the following messages April 20th on Twitter:

Urgent: My father called now, he asked us to try and get him an urgent visit by his lawyer to write his will #bahrain

He said, if they won’t allow the lawyer to see him, he has three things he would like everyone to know #bahrain

1st: he is completely convinced in what he is doing, and that he has chosen this path & wud choose it again if time goes back #bahrain

2nd: he asks that nobody attempts to go on a similar strike til death #bahrain

Finally my father said “if I die, in the next 24 hrs, I ask the ppl to continue on path of peaceful resistance…” #bahrain