UN rights chief urges to release Khaleda for treatment abroad

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to release ailing BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for urgent medical treatment abroad.

The UN rights chief made the call in a letter, dated on November 1, to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“I appeal to your government to consider her [Khaleda] release to enable her to receive the urgent and specialised medical care that she requires outside of the country,” the UN rights chief said in the letter.

Turk said Khaleda Zia’s release will be seen as ‘an important step towards political dialogue and reconciliation’.

The UN rights chief also asked the government ‘to prevent any arbitrary detention including detentions that could be perceived as politically motivated or might impact the environment for fair and credible elections’.