DHAKA, Jan 24: The Bangladesh Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a lower court could go ahead and prosecute detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina for allegedly extorting more than $400,000 from a businessman, lawyers said.

The trial was suspended last Thursday after the High Court asked the lower court judge to stop proceedings while it heard an appeal.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions judge, Mohammad Azizul Haque, on Jan 13, charged Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and her cousin Sheikh Selim, a former minister in her cabinet, with illegally taking $440,000 from a businessman when Hasina was in power between 1996 and 2001. Both denied the charge.

Rehana is now living abroad and will be tried in absetntia.

—Reuters