FT ONLINE

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has been taken to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) from Old Central Jail at Najimuddin Road in Dhaka for medical check-up.

An ambulance carrying the BNP chairperson reached the hospital around 11.30 am on Saturday, BNP sources said.

Huge police personnel and prison guards were seen at the BSMMU when Khaleda reached there. She was taken to room No 512 on the 4th floor for check-up.

Sheikh Nazmul Alam, joint commissioner (crime) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said a medical board will conduct Khaleda’s medical check-up.

“She’ll be sent back to the jail today after necessary test if the board suggests to do so,” he said.

Khaleda’s two lawyers Sanaullah Miah and Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon went to the cabin to meet her.

Meanwhile, police detained several BNP activists as they tried stage demonstrations in front of hospital.

Khaleda Zia fell sick in the jail on March 29 and postponed a scheduled meeting with its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

On April 1, the government formed a medical team with four professors of Dhaka Medical College Hospital to examine her health condition and ensure her treatment in the jail.

On February 8 last, a special court here sentenced Khaleda to five years' rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.