Dhaka: Bangladesh’s former President Abdul Hamid, who served two terms during deposed premier Sheikh Hasina’s regime, returned to the country on Monday after receiving medical treatment abroad.
The 81-year-old ex-president returned from Thailand a month after his “secret departure” sparked protests in Bangladesh for being allowed to leave despite being accused in a murder case.
“He landed here in predawn hours on a Thai Airways flight. He left the airport on completion of required immigration formalities that took nearly an hour and a half,” an official of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport told reporters.
Hamid returned like other ordinary passengers, said HSIA Executive Director Group Captain SM Ragib Samad. Private TV channels also shared footage of his car leaving the airport. He left Dhaka on May 8 through the same airport after completing the required formalities but his quiet departure sparked loud protests.
Leaders and activists of the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP), which led last year’s violent movement that ousted former prime minister Hasina’s Awami League government, said authorities let Hamid “flee” despite being accused in a murder case.
Home Affairs Adviser Retd Lt Gen Jahangir Alam Chowdhury had vowed to step down if he failed to take punitive action against the culprits.