Bangladesh released former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who faces graft charges, on parole for eight weeks on Wednesday to go abroad for medical treatment. She is likely to leave for the United States aboard a British Airways flight early on Thursday, a senior prison official said. From prison Hasina was driven to her residence in DhakaÂ’s Dhanmandi area under tight security. Supporters cheer: Thousands of followers and members of her Awami League political party cheered her on the way, as she waved back at them from her car, witnesses said.
| Some analysts fear once she leaves she will not be allowed back, and that if fellow former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia left the country that would also be her fate. |
Courts prosecuting Hasina for corruption charges ruled on Monday that trials would continue in her absence. A government-appointed medical board suggested on Sunday that Hasina be sent abroad immediately for medical treatment. She 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 people.