DHAKA, 14 February 2008 — Bangladesh’s detained former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed was sick and unable to attend a special court yesterday to face trial on a corruption charge, officials said.
Doctors were called in after Hasina’s blood pressure rose, they said, adding she was also suffering from ear and eye problems.
“She is now stable,” a senior prison official told reporters.
Hasina is accused by the country’s anti-corruption authority of accepting 30 million taka ($440,000) in kickbacks on a power plant deal during her term in office.
She is one of dozens of senior officials detained by the army-backed interim government, which seized power last year vowing to clean up politics and hold free and fair elections.
Hasina has been held at a building in Dhaka’s sprawling parliament compound since her arrest in July last year. Nearby, similar accommodation houses another former Premier Khaleda Zia, who has also been detained on corruption charges.
Although fierce rivals, both women dominated Bangladesh politics for over 15 years until the interim administration, which was supposed to oversee elections in January last year, instead declared an emergency and suspended political activity.
Another special court last month started proceedings against Hasina on a different corruption charge, but the Bangladesh High Court last week declared that trial illegal as the alleged offenses were committed before the emergency was enacted.
That decision is currently being appealed against by the prosecution at the Supreme Court.
Hasina’s personal physician last month pleaded with Fakhruddin Ahmed, head of the interim government, to allow the Awami League leader to seek medical treatment abroad. The government has yet to respond.
