The Bangladesh government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sent a recommendation to the country’s Home Ministry to release Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia for six months on health grounds.
Law Minister of the country Anisul Huq told the media that the decision has been taken on humanitarian grounds and due to her age, adding that the 74-year-old former prime minister of the country would not be allowed to leave the nation to seek treatment.
Khaleda is currently undergoing treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BMMU) in the national capital Dhaka.
The BNP chief was jailed for five years by the country’s special court in 2017 as part of a graft case. The sentence was increased subsequently by higher courts to seven and finally 10 years in 2018.
Khaleda has served as the prime minister of the country twice and became the first woman to lead a democratic government in a Muslim-majority nation.