backed interim government freed on parole the younger son of detained former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia on Thursday, home ministry officials said. They said Arafat Rahman was granted eight weeks parole to go abroad for medical treatment and that he left a prison cell in a Dhaka hospital in the late afternoon under tight security. He would be sent abroad soon, probably to Bangkok, for treatment, said Arafat's attorney Sanaullah Miah. Arafat, a businessman, was arrested with his mother in September last year, five months after his elder brother Tareque Rahman was detained. They have been held for alleged corruption and are facing trials by special courts under emergency power rules. Officials said Tareque, senior joint secretary-general of Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and her likely political heir, was expected to be given parole in a few days. Khaleda earlier asked the government, which has been running the country since January last year, to free her sons and send them abroad for medical treatment. Khaleda, however, rejected suggestion by her physicians that she should also seek treatment overseas, prison officials said. During a recent court appearance, Khaleda said Bangladesh had many good doctors to treat her at home and there was no need for her to travel abroad.
