Khaleda Zia will have to return to jail before going abroad for treatment: PM

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said, “If Khaleda Zia is to go abroad for treatment, the permission she has been given to stay home by suspending her sentence would have to be revoked. She would have to go back to the jail and appear before the court. She would have to take permission from the court.”

The prime minister said this in an interview with US media outlet Voice of America. Voice of America’s Bangla service chief Shatarupa Barua interviewed prime minister Sheikh Hasina during her Washington visit. A video recording of the interview has been uploaded on Voice of America’s Bangla service website.  

VOA asked prime minister Sheikh Hasina. "We are hearing that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's health is deteriorating. So will you be reconsidering the matter of sending her abroad for better medical treatment?"

In reply, prime minister Sheikh Hasina replied, "I ask you, which country in the world has it been possible to send a convicted person abroad for medical treatment? Which country will allow this? If they want to appeal for this, they have to go to the court. They have to take permission from the court. We have no scope to intervene in matters of the court."

She went on to say, "We have done what we could. With the authority of the government her sentence was suspended and permission was given for her to stay at home and undergo treatment.... She is undergoing treatment herself at Bangladesh's costliest hospital. And if they are to go abroad now, then the permission that I have given for her to stay at home, with have to be withdrawn. She will have to return to jail. She will be able to go if the court passes a ruling. That is the reality."

Khaleda Zia was imprisoned on 8 February 2018 after she was convicted in two cases. The former prime minister was in jail for over two years.

Khaleda Zia, who was convicted in Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases, was released on 25 March 2020 by the government postponing her conviction on conditions through an executive order.

On 12 September the home minister issued a notification to suspend Khaleda Zia's sentence and extend her release by another six months.