‘Khaleda is sick, vomited before hearing today’

‘Khaleda is sick, vomited before hearing today’

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today said his party’s Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia is very sick and that her doctors are not giving proper treatment.

“She (Khaleda Zia) told me she is very sick,” Fakhrul told reporters after today’s hearing in Niko graft case. “She vomited before appearing before the court today.”

“She could not hold her head straight during the hearing. She says her whole body was aching,” Fakhrul, who was beside Khaleda Zia during hearing, told journalists.

He expressed concerns that doctors at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) are not giving her proper treatment and called for the government’s attention to this regard.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia was taken to the makeshift court inside Old Dhaka Central Jail in in a wheelchair around 12:40pm for hearing on charge framing in the graft case.

Fakhrul reached the court at five minutes before Khaleda Zia did and sat beside her in a chair till the end of the hearing at 1:20pm. He was seen talking to Khaleda Zia several times.

Apart from Fakhrul, Khaleda Zia also spoke to lawyers AZ Mohammad Ali and Masud Ahmed Talukder after the court session ended.

The court granted a time petition which was filed for BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed, an accused in the case, as he was not present at the court.

However, it rejected a petition which was filed by the defence for getting the certified copies of the case.

Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder, a lawyer for Khaleda Zia, told the court the defence was yet to get the seized documents of the case which are necessary for hearing on charge framing.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Special Judge Court-9 said the court has already given an order in this regard and that the defence had mistakes in the application filed.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol accused that the defence was delaying the hearing citing lack of documents. “The defence can participate in the hearing on charge framing with the documents they have.”

The court fixed April 1 for the next hearing on charge framing in the case.