Khaleda’s plea on treatment abroad rejected

The government has rejected family’s plea seeking permission to take BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia abroad for treatment. “There is no judicial provision that permits Khaleda Zia for treatment abroad as she is a convicted offender,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said in a briefing on Sunday.

“Khaleda Zia will have to receive treatment at home, we could not approve the appeal filed by her family members,” the minister added.

“BNP chairperson’s family will be informed about the matter shortly as there is no scope of allowing her abroad treatment according to the law,” the minister said.

When asked whether Khaleda could be allowed on humanitarian grounds, Asaduzzaman Khan said, “Her sentence was commuted on humanitarian grounds, so she can take proper treatment at home.”

“We are not allowed to go against the law” he concluded.

Meanwhile, law minister Anisul Huq said, “The appeal was rejected as Khaleda’s family previously made an application to facilitate her getting treatment at home by suspending jail term. The matter is resolved and we cannot reopen that application. The matter is not relevant as the law does not permit us to allow her to go abroad on the same application.”

The minister also said that the government suspended Khaleda’s jail term in line with section 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Earlier in the day, the Law Ministry sent its recommendation to the Home Ministry on the appeal filed by Khaleda Zia’s family.

Khaleda Zia’s younger brother Shamim Iskander submitted the application to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal’s house in Dhanmondi on 5 May. Later, it was sent to the Ministry of Law for their opinion.

Khaleda Zia tested positive for Covid-19 test on 11 April, as eight people at her residence were found infected with the virus. She underwent the second Covid-19 test on April 24 and the report was positive again.

The BNP Chairperson was admitted to Evercare Hospital in the capital on 27 April for a brief period for a thorough health checkup, and continued to remain there as per the doctors’ recommendation. Later, she was shifted from the hospital cabin to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) due to shortness of breath.

Finally, the BNP Chief Khaleda Zia finally tested negative for Covid-19, 27 days after she had been infected with the deadly virus.