By IANS,
Dhaka : Ailing former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina got into a row with the judge during hearings in a corruption case and then complained of severe headaches and pain in her ear.
She accused judge Firoze Alam of being “impatient” when it came to hearing the defence lawyers in a graft case in which she is an accused.
“I am going blind. I can’t see with my left eye and can’t hear in my left ear. I’m suffering from an unbearable pain in my injured ear and from terrible headaches resulting from that pain,” Hasina, 61, was quoted as saying in The Daily star Wednesday.
The former prime minister is facing trial in three corruption cases and also in a murder case.
Expressing unhappiness over the treatment meted out to her in jail where she has been lodged since July 2007, Hasina complained that her relatives were not being allowed to meet her.
Representatives of the government and of Hasina’s Awami League met here last week to discuss her health and the prospects of her being sent out on parole for treatment in the US.
On Tuesday, as her counsel Toufique Newaz made his submissions, the judge asked him to argue on points relevant to the case. Hasina repeatedly tried to draw the judge’s attention without any success, the newspaper said.
At one point Hasina told the judge: “The case will not move forward if you lose patience. You must listen to everyone. Does independence of the judiciary exist only in papers?”
The judge adjourned the hearing after Hasina complained she was unwell.