Khaleda fakes illness, says Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is faking illness in jail to avoid appearances in court.
“She fakes illness to avoid appearances in court hearings because she knows she will get caught if she attends hearings. This is the reality,” Prime Minster said.
Hasina was speaking at an extended meeting of the Awami League at the Ganabhaban in Dhaka, bdnews24.com reports.
Khaleda has been in the old jailhouse on Nazim Uddin Road since Feb 8 after she was sentenced to five years for corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust when she was the prime minister.
The Supreme Court granted her bail in the case, but her release is not happening anytime soon as she was named as an arrestee in other cases over violent protests and defamation.
The 73-year-old has not been taken to court for hearings of the Zia Charitable Trust graft case though several dates were fixed.
Khaleda’s doctors visited her and said she was ill, but she refused to go to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University or Combined Military Hospital for treatment, while the BNP demands she be taken to the United Hospital.
Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI agents from the US would come to Bangladesh to give statements as witnesses of the Zia Charitable Trust graft case once the next date for hearing was set, Hasina said.
The prime minister admitted that Khaleda had diseases, but added she was not too ill to skip hearings.
“She has diseases. She underwent a heart surgery and many other things. We saw her taking treatment in the US and Saudi Arabia when she was in power,” she said.
“But her condition is not so bad that she cannot appear in court. She is doing this because FBI agents are waiting to testify against her.”
