Hasina free to travel abroad

Dhaka, June 9: Two Bangladesh courts trying detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on graft charges ruled on Monday the hearings could continue in her absence, paving the way for her to go abroad for medical treatment.

Ms Hasina asked on Sunday for permission to allow lawyers to appear on her behalf, after a government-appointed medical board suggested she should be sent abroad immediately for treatment.

"Now it is just a matter of time when she will take the journey abroad," said an official of Ms Hasina’s Awami League.

Her arch-rival and fellow former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who is also facing corruption charges, said on Sunday she would not seek medical treatment abroad, accusing the government of setting a trap ahead of an election planned in December.

It was not clear whether the Army-backed interim government would block their return if sent abroad on health grounds. An attempt to block Ms Hasina’s return from the United States early last year failed due to protests and international pressure.

Ms Hasina is suffering from high blood pressure, eye problems and hearing impairment caused by grenade blasts at a rally in Dhaka in 2004, which killed 23 leaders and workers of her party. Her lawyers told reporters that special court Judge Mohammed Feroze Alam accepted her pleal.

Media reports and party officials said that Ms Hasina could be leaving shortly for Canada en route to the United States, where her children live and where she has previously been treated.

Another medical board examined Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia and suggested she also be taken abroad for treatment for arthritis and problems in her knees. Ms Zia told a court on Sunday she would prefer to be treated in Bangladesh. Both the former Prime Ministers have been in jail since last year, when they were arrested in a countrywide drive against corruption.

—Reuters