Khaleda Zia released on parole to attend mother's funeral

Dhaka, Jan 19 (UNI) Bangladesh's detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was released today on brief parole of an hour to attend the funeral of her mother Taieyaba Majumdar, who died last night.

Ms Zia's two sons -- Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko -- were also released on parole to attend namaj-e-janaza (special prayer) of their grandmother.

Amid tight security, Ms Zia was brought to her Dhaka Cantonment residence from a makeshift jail set up in national parliament building complex. She was arrested on September 3, last year in connection with a corruption case.

Her sons were also brought to their residence at Dhaka Cantonment in separate prison vans. Both the brothers were arrested on various charges of corruption, allegedly committed while their mother had been in power since 2001 to 2006.

Inspector General (Prison) Brig Gen Zakir Hasan said Khaleda and her two sons were released on parole for few hours. Her sons were sent back to prison after paying respect to the remains of their grandmother.

But, police did not allow the former Prime Minister and their sons to meet each other. All the three accused were brought to their cantonment house separately and sent back to prison separately.

Earlier, the body of Taieyaba Majumdar, who died of cardiac arrest last night, was flown to Dhaka from her hometown northern Dinajpur by an air force helicopter.

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