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Ex-Bosnia leader leaves hospital

Izetbegovic: Asked to be discharged
Izetbegovic: Asked to be discharged  


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Former Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic has been discharged from his Saudi hospital and is flying home.

Doctors at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh ruled on Saturday that Izetbegovic was fit enough to travel on a C-130 evacuation plane.

He was admitted to the hospital on December 29, having first fallen ill with heart problems in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.

Izetbegovic, 76, suffered a heart attack in 1996 and in 1999 he was also treated at the Saudi hospital for heart problems.

During his stay in hospital he underwent shock treatment to regulate his heartbeat but doctors decided surgery to enlarge the arteries was not viable.

Hospital spokesman Humoud al-Otaibi told The Associated Press: "His health is back to normal. He was eating well and taking walks outside the hospital, most of the times alone."

A medical team is accompanying Izetbegovic on the flight -- provided by the Saudi Government -- to Bosnia.

Izetbegovic led Bosnian Muslims in the country's war for independence from Yugoslavia and won the support of Western nations and widespread respect in the Gulf Arab region.

He resigned the presidency in 2000 due to his poor health, which was attributed to years of imprisonment under the pre-1990 Communist regime due to his Islamic political views.

Despite leaving frontline politics he remains honorary president of the Muslim Party of Democratic Action.



 
 
 
 


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December 29, 2001

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