By IANS
Dhaka : Her blood pressure fluctuating, a heavily sweating former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina was escorted out of a courtroom where a corruption case against her was being heard.
Visibly exhausted Monday, she frequently wiped her face with a towel given to her by her relatives present in the court, The Daily Star reported Tuesday.
Detained since July 16 last year, Hasina, 61, fell ill after attending the trial for two hours in a makeshift courtroom erected in the Jatiya Sangsad parliament complex.
Her lawyers sought adjournment, while the prosecution insisted that there should be a formal writ.
The court of Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque adjourned the proceedings for a day as the defence could not complete examining the evidence produced by the prosecution.
Before she left the court, however, the judge heard angry arguments not relating to the corruption case but about the conditions in the courtroom.
The defence counsel complained of poor sitting arrangements to which the chief prosecutor, A.B.M. Sarfuddin Khan Mukul, responded by saying that while in office from 1996 to 2001, Hasina had not built proper courtrooms.
During the 10-minute exchange, Hasina said the courtrooms were indeed built during her regime, but she did not have to set up the courtroom in the country’s parliament complex.
Citing security reasons, the interim government has detained Hasina, as also her political rival and another former prime minister Khaleda Zia, in separate houses in the parliament complex, terming them special jails.
Hasina and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, her cousin and a former minister, are being prosecuted on charges of extorting Taka 30 million (about $500,000) in a case filed by businessman Azam J. Chowdhury.