Dhaka, June 9 : Sheikh Hasina, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, who was detained on corruption charges on July 17, 2007, would soon be freed by the Government.

"The government is going to free her on an administrative order. This morning we have applied to the court seeking the immediate return of her passport," said her lawyer Kamrul Islam.

She would also be allowed to travel to the United States for the treatment of her ear and eye, the lawyer said.

Thousands of supporters gathered near national parliament, where she has been detained.

Sheikh Hasina's doctor Syed Mudassir Ali confirmed the seriousness of her eye and ear problems.

Hasina, 60, has been under detention in a building inside parliament since her arrest last July on charges of graft, abuse of power and extortion.

Sheikh Hasina led the country from 1996 to 2001.

Her family and party men had urged the country's army-backed interim administration to allow her to travel overseas for medical treatment, preferably to the United States where her children live, but the government had rejected the plea saying she could get adequate medical treatment at home.

Hasina is among 170 political figures detained by the military-backed caretaker administration as part of its campaign against corruption ahead of elections to be held later this year. (ANI)