British parliamentarians call for Hasina's release

LONDON: Six parliamentarians from the three main British political parties have called for former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, arrested in her native published in an early edition of The Times's Monday paper, three MPs from Britain's lower House of Commons, two members of the European Parliament, and one member of the upper House of Lords, said they were "gravely concerned" about the manner in which she was arrested.

In a dawn raid a week ago, hundreds of police and special forces swooped on Hasina's Dhaka home and carried her off to jail on charges of extortion that she has repeatedly denied.

"We are ... gravely concerned about the undignified arrest this week of ... Sheikh Hasina," the letter, signed by Anne Main MP and Charles Tannock MEP of the Conservative Party, Simp and Baroness Pola Manzila Uddin of the governing Labour Party.

"We call upon the authorities to release her on bail so that she can prepare her defence. She has already surrendered her passport and poses no conceivable security risk or risk of attempting to evade justice.

"Sheikh Hasina must also be afforded a fair and impartial trial in the event that this prosecution is pursued further," tr government to ensure that due process is followed and the rule of law upheld."