Former Bangladesh PM is released

Bangladeshi opposition leader Sheikh Hasina has been temporarily freed from jail to get medical treatment abroad.

The government has allowed the former prime minister - who is being held on corruption charges - to leave detention for eight weeks, officials say.

She is expected to leave on a flight for the United States on Thursday.

Officials from her Awami League party say that they will now participate in talks with the government over the staging of elections due in December.

Correspondents say that there is a possibility that Sheikh Hasina herself could take part in the talks before she departs for the US.

The Awami League had been boycotting the talks, demanding that Sheikh Hasina be released first.

Sheikh Hasina is among scores of politicians detained for alleged corruption by the army-backed government in Bangladesh.

She is due to have treatment for hearing, eyesight and blood problems in the US, where her children live.

'Worsening ailments'

The Awami League leader has now left her special jail on the grounds of parliament for her home in central, Dhaka.

A senior party member told the BBC that her ailments had all worsened considerably since she was jailed nearly a year ago.

Her doctors insist that she cannot receive the right medical treatment in Bangladesh.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Dhaka says that it is not clear how serious her condition is, or how long the treatment will take.

It is also not certain that she will be in the country to contest the elections, our correspondent adds.

Last April, the military-backed interim government tried to block Sheikh Hasina's return to the country when she was away on a personal visit.

It was forced to back down and allow her back, although she was arrested soon after she returned.

The government also tried to force the other main opposition leader, Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, into exile.

But that plan also failed and she too was jailed.

Khaleda Zia has also been given the chance to go abroad for medical treatment but she has refused the government's offer.

Correspondents say the government believes its plans to reform Bangladesh's political institutions will not work as long as the two veteran leaders are still on the scene.

Both women deny all charges against them.

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