Khaleda is sick, vomited before today’s hearing

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

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

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

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.

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

During the hearing, Fakhrul sat beside Khaleda in a chair and was seen talking to the BNP chief several times.

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

WHAT HAPPENED DURING TODAY’S HEARING?

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, 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 that the defence had mistaken in the application.

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.