The New Nation - Internet Edition

Shahidul Islam

The ailing Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil was scheduled to be flown to Singapore 11-55 PM for medical treatment yesterday along with his wife Rehana Jalil as we went to the press last night.

He will get admitted at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore this morning, his physician Dr Bareen Chakrabarty, who is the Chief Cardiologist of LabAid Hospital, told journalists last afternoon.

The Awami League (AL) General Secretary, who was released on a 30-day parole on Sunday on special consideration and humanitarian ground as per doctors' advice since he became critically ills.

He was suffering from kidney and heart problems along with diabetes. He was undergoing treatment at LabAid Hospital in the city under detention from July 15 last year. He was arrested on corruption charges on June 29, 2007 and spent 263 days in custody before being freed on conditional parole.

Jalil was yesterday taken to his Gulshan residence from the LabAid Hospital in the evening to meet his relatives before leaving for Singapore.

Rehana Jalil said her husband would undergo renal transplant as the Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where he had undergone treatment several times earlier.

Expressing her satisfaction over official action over Abdul Jalil, detained former Prime Minister and AL President Sheikh Hasina thanked the Government for its step.

"It would have been much better if he (Jalil) was totally freed instead of parole," Sheikh Hasina, who was brought to the Special Judge's Court in connection with Barge Mounted Scam case yesterday, she said, "A good sense has finally prevailed upon the Government, as it has taken the decision, though belated, on Abdul Jalil's treatment."

Expressing her willingness to go abroad for medical treatment immediately, she complained that she was not getting medicines according to the requirement inside prison. She said this while talking to lawyers and relatives inside the Court, the senior counsel Barrister Shafque Ahmed told journalists after the hearing.

"Her health condition is since her eye and kidney were affected due to her ear problems, which could not be cured anywhere other than the USA," he said, adding, "Sheikh Hasina has expressed the apprehension that her entire body would collapse if she is not allowed to go to the USA for medical treatment immediately."

It may be mentioned here that the Council of Advisers on Sunday decided take similar step like that of the ailing AL General Secretary in case of other detained political leaders (VIP prisoners), including two former Prime Ministers-Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina.

Meanwhile, BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain along with his ailing wife both were get admitted at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for medical treatment yesterday in turn of event, kicking off dusts of controversy and speculations.

Khandaker Delwar and his wife flown to Singapore on Saturday night hours after the release of his AL counterpart, who will be admitted in the same hospital today.

Earlier, a number of leaders of different political parties, including the AL, met Abdul Jalil at LabAid Hospital.

The Army-led Joint Forces arrested Abdul Jalil and Anticorruption Commission (ACC) filed a corruption case against him last year.

His Personal Secretary Akram Hossain told journalists before his flight that Jalil was not on life support but needed oxygen.

The AL General Secretary, who was also an owner and Chairman of the Mercantile Bank, was accused of illegally acquiring property worth Tk 65.29 lakh and concealing information about assets valued at Tk 63.82 lakh in his wealth statement submitted to the ACC.