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Hasina may hop on plane June 12

All legal obstacles removed

Staff Correspondent
Detained former premier also Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina is finally set to leave the country 'for better treatment', after different courts yesterday removed all legal barriers to her departure by accepting her petitions for staying absent at court proceedings in four separate cases against her.
Highly placed sources told The Daily Star last night that there is a high possibility of Hasina leaving the country sometime on June 12. after being temporarily released through government executive orders.
Meanwhile sources in Hasina's family said a special flight of Singapore Airlines has already been arranged to fly the eldest daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman out of her predicament in her homeland, tomorrow at 8:00pm.
While some highly placed sources said it has already been decided that Hasina's personal aide Selina Hossain, and her spe-
cial personal assistant also AL's Forest and Environment Affairs Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud will be allowed to accompany her in her journey abroad 'for better treatment'.
The courts' exemptions for Hasina came following recommendations of a medical board, formed by the military backed caretaker government, that Hasina be sent abroad for 'treating her hearing problem' at the facility where she had been treated before.
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rhe AL chief, who has been detained since July 16 last year in a special jail set up on the parliament building premises in the capital, might be released anytime today after completion of necessary formalities including signing of different legal papers, reliable sources said.
But none of the sources could provide any confirmed schedule for Kasina's departure. Even her son Sajecb Wazed Joy. who lives in the US, could not provide any con firmed itinerary
Talking to The Daily Star over the phone from the US he said, "We aren't yet confirmed actually on what date she is coming here. But we are eagerly waiting for her."
Meanwhile, all other necessary preparations have already been completed by the government, iail authorities, Kasina s family, and her party for her departure, which might pave the way for AL to join the ongoing dialogues will) the caretaker government, and to participate in the upcoming parliamentary poll.
In the meantime, Dhanmondi police handed over Kasina's passport to her counsels following a court order. The passport was seized following her arrest Her counsels Advocate Qamrul Islam and Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh received the passport, with valid US and UK visas on it, from the Officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi Police Station Syed Mohsbenul Haque around 4:05pm yesterday.
"The iail authorities have completed all necessary preparations. We will release her immediately after getting the court order/' Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique told reporters after he had met the AL president in the special jail between 12:45pm and 2:00pm yesterday.
The DIG Prisons however said the government will ensure her security prior to her departure as she is a WIP detainee.
AL had long been demanding unconditional release of its chief as a precondition for sitting in the ongoing politico-electoral talks between the government and political parties, and for contesting in the upcoming election. The government unofficially began hectic negotiations with Hasina early last month to bring her party to the table, according to the sources.
The sources said the AL chief wants to visit her Sudha Sadan residence and Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, both in Dhanmondi, before leaving the country. She is in the habit of visiting Bangabandhu Memorial Museum quite often for paying tribute to her father since the museum houses a large mural portrait of him as a memorial. She also visits Bangabandhu's grave at Tungipara in Gopalganj whenever any important event happens or approaches, or when she feels an arrest might be imminent, according to her family and party colleagues.
A negotiation between the authorities concerned and the AL president is going on regarding fulfilling her wishes before departure. but the government has so far been reluctant to allow her to go to those two places on security grounds, the sources added.
Hasina will first go to London and spend some time there with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, then she will fly off to Canada to spend a few days with her daughter Saima Wazed Putul. and later she will go to the US for treatment'.
Talking to The Daily Star, Hasina's US-educated son Sajeeb Wazed Joy said he has already completed all necessary formalities for admitting his mother to the hospital where she had received treatment for her hearing problem which had been inflicted on her by a gruesome grenade attack on an
AL rally on August 21, 2004 in the capital.
Many arrested suspects of that attack, who confessed to being members of now banned Islamist militant organisation Harkatul Jihad al Islami Bangladesh, also confessed that the premeditated attack was to kill Sheikh Hasina.
IWo special courts, set up on the parliament building premises, exempted Hasina yesterday from appearing in person before the courts in the barge-mounted power plant graft and Niko graft cases.
Upon a petition filed by Sheikh I lasina on Sunday evening, Judge Firoz Alam of Special Court 1 passed the order of exemption at 10:05am vesterday in the power plant graft case while Judge Amar Kumar Roy of the Special Court 2 passed an identical order at 10:35am the same day in the Niko scam case, on grounds of her illness.
According to the court orders, Kasina's counsels will represent her during both the case proceedings The prosecution side during the hearings did not oppose the defence petitions.
Barrister Shafique Ahmed, one of Hasina's counsels, said now there is no legal bar on Hasina's going abroad. She will be able to fly out of the country within a day or two 'for treatment of her injured car and faltering eyesight'.
When asked whether verdicts in the cases will be delivered in her absence, he said the trial proceedings will continue, but Hasina will have to appear before the courts when they will ask her for statements. Charges can be framed in absence of Hasina, he added.
Prosecution lawyers expressed their hope that the AL president will return home after recovering from her ailments to stand trials.
Later in the day, Dhaka Divisional Special Judge Golam Mortuza Majumdar and a magistrate of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court, upon separate petitions, passed similar orders exempting Hasina from personal appearance during court proceedings in Mig-29 warplane purchase scam case and in another extortion case filed by a businessman named Noor Ali.
Hasina's lawyers submitted the petitions saying that their client was earlier granted bail in the MiG-29 purchase scam case and her personal attendance should be exempted.
Metropolitan Magistrate Abdullah Al Mamun passed the order in the other case upon a petition submitted by Haisna's lawyer Advocate Quamrul Islam.