Bahrain mulls Denmark plan for hunger striker

[NewsCaster]

The government in Bahrain says the nation's top judges are reviewing a request by Denmark to gain custody of a jailed activist, who is also a Danish citizen, who has spent nearly two months on hunger strike.

[/color][/size]The official Bahrain News Agency said the Supreme Judicial Council is studying the appeal to transfer Abdulhadi al-Khawaja to Denmark.

[/color][/size]The report gave no possible timetable for a decision, but Bahrain is facing increasing pressure over the case.

[/color][/size]Saturday marked the 59th day of Khawaja’s hunger strike to protest against his detention.

[/color][/size]Khawaja and seven other opposition leaders were sentenced to life in prison last year for anti-state crimes. Opposition activists argue they are political prisoners held for their involvement in last year’s protest movement.

[/color][/size]A popular pro-democracy uprising began nearly 14 months ago against the monarchy's near monopoly on power.

[/color][/size]Khawaja's daughter, Zainab, was released on Saturday after being arrested earlier in the week during a protest in suppoer of her father.

[/color][/size]Hours after her release, Zainab tweeted that: "My father just called, he can hardly speak, and he can hardly breath(e)."

[/color][/size]‘Freedom or martyrdom’

[/color][/size]On Friday, security forces fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of protesters marching in support of Khawaja whose hunger strike has become a powerful rallying point for the tiny nation's Shia-led uprising against the Sunni monarchy.

[/color][/size]"Freedom or martyrdom," cried marchers who carried portraits of Khawaja, whose declining health has brought appeals for international intervention from groups such as UK-based rights group Amnesty International.

[/color][/size]Khawaja was moved to a military hospital on Friday where he was given intravenous fluids after his health deteriorated sharply, his lawyer said.

[/color][/size]On Wednesday, the Information Affairs Authority said Khawaja had been moved to a clinic after losing 10kg.

[/color][/size]Speaking to Al Jazeera on Saturday, Mohamed al-Jishi, Khawaja's lawyer, said his client's health was further deteriorating despite the hospital intravenous drip.

[/color][/size]Jishi said the drip is only a saline/glucose solution.

[/color][/size]"The doctors said this won't be enough to keep him alive. He is in a critical phase and he still needs to take food," he said.

Al Jazeera