Jailed former Bangladesh PM admitted to hospital

DHAKA: Jailed Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia was admitted to hospital in Dhaka on Saturday, an official said, following a court order in response to her deteriorating health.

Former prime minister Zia, 73, was taken from the abandoned 19th-century prison where she is serving her sentence to a top medical university clinic in the heart of the capital, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

“She has been admitted to the BSMMU (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University) hospital,” director of the clinic Brigadier General Abdullah al Harun said.

Al Harun said a medical board comprising specialist doctors has been constituted.

Her transfer to the hospital came just days after the country’s High Court ordered immediate hospital treatment for Zia after her lawyers said the government was putting her health at risk by refusing her specialised care.

Zia — who leads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party — was jailed in February for corruption.

Facing further charges of graft at a hearing early last month, she said she was “extremely ill” and that her arm and leg were becoming paralysed.

Her lawyer Zainal Abedin said this week that Zia would be able to choose her own doctors from outside the state-run hospital.