24 April 2012 Last updated at 12:03 ET

Profile: Abdulhadi al-Khawaja

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, an imprisoned human rights and political activist, is said to be in critical condition in a military hospital in Bahrain after being on hunger strike since January.

He was given a life sentence last year for plotting against the state, but human rights groups say his trial was "grossly unfair".

On 20 April - only days before Bahrain was due to hold a Formula 1 Grand Prix - his family said he was refusing to drink water. Two days earlier, he had pulled out the intravenous drip keeping him alive.

'Late-night raid'

Bahrain has been wracked by unrest since pro-democracy demonstrators occupied a prominent landmark in Manama, Pearl Roundabout, in February 2011.

At least 60 people, including five police officers, have been killed, hundreds have been injured and thousands jailed.

The protesters were forcibly driven out of Pearl Roundabout by security forces in March 2011, after King Hamad declared a state of emergency and brought in troops from neighbouring states to crush dissent.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja told the BBC before his arrest on 8 April 2011 that he had deliberately stayed away from Pearl Roundabout.

"I don't want to give the authorities any reason to arrest me," he said.

He was nevertheless picked up in a late-night raid on his daughter's house.

According to his family, he was beaten by police and not allowed to take his medication with him. He was also not permitted family visits for weeks.

'Torture'

According to testimony he gave to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry - a panel of human rights experts asked to look into the unrest by King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa following the outcry over the crackdown - Mr Khawaja suffered prolonged torture while in detention.

Mr Khawaja said his jaw had been broken in four places when police and masked men burst into his daughter's home and seized him.

He was taken to a Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) hospital and spent seven days blindfolded and handcuffed to his bed, he told the BICI. While in hospital, he and his family were threatened with sexual abuse, he said.

Mr Khawaja said he was then sent back to prison, where he spent two months in solitary confinement and was denied access to a lawyer. He also alleged that he was sexually assaulted and regularly beaten by guards.

In May 2011, Mr Khawaja and 20 other activists and opposition figures went on trial at the National Safety Court, a military tribunal. Seven were tried in absentia.

The next month, they were all found guilty of "setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution". Seven of the defendants - including Mr Khawaja, Hassan Mushaimaa, secretary general of the Shia-dominated Haq movement, and Abdul Wahhab Hussein, leader of al-Wafa - were sentenced to life in prison.

Mr Khawaja's conviction was based on a confession he made under duress, and no evidence was presented showing he had used or advocated violence during the mass protests against King Hamad, according to Amnesty International.

In September 2011, the National Safety Court of Appeal heard an appeal by all 21 defendants. The judges rejected an attempt to challenge the legality of the royal decrees that provided for civilians to be tried before military courts, and upheld both the convictions and sentences.

Danish appeal

On 29 January 2012, Mr Khawaja and the 13 others who were in the dock alongside him began a hunger strike in prison in protest against their convictions, and the continued suppression of dissent.

The hunger strikes were meant to last only a week, but Mr Khawaja chose to continue his to put further pressure on the Bahraini government.

At the end of March, he told his family and his lawyer that he was starting to reduce his glucose intake, which he had been taking along with water to sustain his health.

Mr Khawaja's health soon deteriorated significantly and he was admitted to the Bahrain Defence Forces Hospital for two days at the end of March. His weight had dropped to 51kg (112lbs), 16kg less than before his imprisonment.

On 31 March, he was transferred to the Interior Ministry Hospital, where he was treated for a few days before being moved back to the BDF Hospital.

Denmark subsequently requested that Mr Khawaja be released and sent there for treatment, on the grounds that he had Danish citizenship.

But on 8 April, the Supreme Judicial Council rejected the request, saying that the law prevented the transfer of "accused and convicted persons to foreign countries". The decision was criticised by the UN and EU.

Officials also announced that Bahrain's highest court, the Court of Cassation, would rule on Mr Khawaja's final appeal on 23 April - a day after the Gulf state was scheduled to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

'Completely convinced'

In an effort to force the authorities to release him before then, Mr Khawaja told his family on 17 April that he had removed the intravenous drip keeping him alive.

The 52-year-old said he was also now refusing anything but water.

Two days later, with international attention focused on Bahrain ahead of the Grand Prix, he said he had stopped drinking water and wanted to write his will.

"He said: if they won't allow the lawyer to see him, he has three things he would like everyone to know," his daughter, Zainab, wrote on Twitter on 20 April.

"Firstly, he is completely convinced in what he is doing. Secondly, he asks that nobody attempts to go on a similar strike til death," she added. "Finally, my father said: 'If I die... I ask the people to continue on path of peaceful resistance. I don't want anybody to be hurt in my name.'"

Three days later, the Court of Cassation postponed Mr Khawaja's appeal until 30 April, apparently without giving any reason for the decision. It was the second postponement since the court started considering the case.