Khaleda to inform apex court she's very ill: Lawyers

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia is seriously ill and she feels the court should know about her health condition, her lawyer said on Saturday.

''Madam (Khaleda Zia) said, 'I'm very sick'. She will convey this to the court,'' Abdur Rezzak Khan told newsmen after coming out of the abandoned central jail on Nazimuddin Road where the former prime minister has been kept since her conviction on 8 February.

Rezzak Khan, along with four other lawyers -- Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, AJ Mohammad Ali, Zainul Abedin and Mahbub Uddin Khokon -- entered the jail compound around 4:00pm and stayed there until 5:00pm.

''Her (Khaleda) health is deteriorating day by day as she has been kept in damp condition inside the abadoned jail house,'' Rezzak Khan said to the newsmen who were waiting in front of the jail gate.

''She instructed us to tell the apex court that she was given bail on health grounds by the High Court," he added.

On 12 March, the High Court granted Khaleda Zia bail which was stayed on 19 March by the Appellate Division until 8 May when the apex court is set to hear the case,.

Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said, ''The apex court, in the history of the Supreme Court, has never stayed a bail if it's issued by the High Court division. They had not just stayed the bail but took a long time for the full hearing.''

Quoting Khaleda Zia, lawyer Zainul Abedin said, ''Khaleda Zia is in a very bad condition. The left hand that she could not move has become stiff. She has been suffering from pains in her neck, as well.''

Khaleda Zia has been sentenced by a makeshift court her five years in jail in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on 8 February.