DHAKA, Jan 19: Bangladesh’s detained former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and her two imprisoned sons were given brief parole to attend the funeral of Khaleda Zia’s mother on Saturday but did not meet, officials said.

Security officials escorted them separately to see the body of Begum Taiyeba Majumdar, a Home Ministry official said.

Taiyeba, 87, died of old age late on Friday at a hospital in Dinajpur district town, 450 km northwest of the capital Dhaka.

The army-backed interim government carried Taiyeba’s body by helicopter to Dhaka on Saturday and kept it at Khaleda’s Dhaka garrison house for several hours to allow Khaleda, her sons and other relatives to pay last respects.

Sons Tareque Rahman, 39, and Arafat Rahman, 35, stayed separately for an hour each beside the shrouded body of their grandmother while Khaleda was allowed two hours.

Party leaders, supporters and journalists were not allowed to visit the house.

The body was flown back to Dinajpur for burial later in the day.

Khaleda and two sons have been detained in separate prisons charged with corruption and misuse of power since they were arrested last year in an anti-graft drive by the interim government.

The interim government has banned political activities, rallies and protests, cancelled an election planned for Jan 22, and launched a crackdown on corruption before parliamentary elections it promises to hold by the end of the year.

Some 170 leaders of political parties have been arrested during the drive. Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is on trial, charged with corruption.

—Reuters