Free Hasina

Washingtonpost

Freed Bangladesh ex-leader leaves for US

By JULHAS ALAM
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 12, 2008; 6:29 AM

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- A former Bangladeshi prime minister left for the U.S. on Thursday for medical treatment a day after she was released from jail pending a corruption trial, a party leader said.

Ex-Premier Sheikh Hasina boarded a British Airways flight Thursday from Dhaka's Zia International Airport, ATN Bangla television station reported. Syed Ashraful Islam, a close party colleague, confirmed she had left for the U.S. after seeing her off at the airport.

She is to be treated for hearing impairment, eye problem and high blood pressure, her Awami League party said.

Hasina, 60, was arrested last July on various charges of corruption and was freed Wednesday for eight weeks after 11 months of pretrial detention. No date has been set for her trial.

She and her party have rejected the charges, saying they are politically motivated to prevent her from running in December elections meant to restore an elected government. Bangladesh has been run for more than a year by an interim government that has jailed dozens of politicians, former bureaucrats and business leaders on corruption and other charges.

Hasan Mahmud, a personal aide to Hasina, said Thursday that the release was temporary but unconditional.

"She will definitely return to the country after her treatment completes," Mahmud said.

After the release, Hasina held a meeting with four influential advisers of the military-backed interim government following a party meeting late Wednesday. Hasina also talked to Bangladesh's interim leader Fakhruddin Ahmed by phone during Wednesday's meeting.

Islam, the political aide, later told reporters the party has decided to join a government-sponsored dialogue in the run-up to the national polls, expected to be held in December.

Political analysts and newspaper editorials see Hasina's release and the government talks as a positive sign for reconciliation in Bangladesh's ongoing political crisis.

"Sheikh Hasina's release is obviously a sign of new and dramatic development in national politics," the English-language Daily Star daily said Thursday in an editorial.

The interim government came to power in January last year by declaring a state of emergency after weeks of violent street protests over electoral reforms.

The government has launched a massive crackdown on corruption and arrested Hasina and her archrival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and Zia's two sons as well as many other businessmen and former bureaucrats. Zia also denies the charges.

Before 2007, Hasina and Zia had alternately ruled Bangladesh following its return to democracy in 1991, but under both leaders the impoverished country was labeled as one of the world's most corrupt nations by Berlin-based Transparency International.

Local media have indicated that Zia and her sons may also be freed from pretrial detention following the example of Hasina's case.

© 2008 The Associated Press