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DHAKA, March 2 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's army-backed government has given Abdul Jalil, the detained general secretary of the Awami League, permission to go abroad for a month for medical treatment, a senior prison official said on Sunday.

Jalil, 67, who was arrested by the government as part of an anti-corruption drive, has been ill at a Dhaka hospital for months with a kidney ailment. His condition has worsened over the past few days.

"The authorities agreed to requests by Jalil's family and party ... so that he could be treated away from the country," said Zakir Hasan, Inspector-General of Prisons in Bangladesh.

"He has been granted permission to leave the country purely on health and humanitarian grounds," he told Reuters, adding any political activity could lead to the permission being cancelled.

Jalil's family plans to take him to Singapore. His physicians say Jalil needs a kidney transplant.

Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina and her rival Begum Khaleda Zia of the country's other biggest party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), both former prime ministers, are also in jail facing trial for graft and abuse of power.

They alternated in the top executive office for 15 years until October 2006.

The interim authority which took charge in January 2007 after months of political violence imposed a state of emergency, banned political activities and launched a crackdown on corrupt politicians.

More than 170 key political figures including dozens of former ministers and close relatives of Hasina and Khaleda have been detained.

The Awami League and BNP also want medical treatment for Hasina and Khaleda overseas.

On Sunday, Hasina's party deputies warned the government would be held responsible if anything happened to Hasina or any other detained leader for lack of health care.

Hasina has been suffering from high blood pressure as well as ear and eye ailments, while Khaleda suffers from pain in her knees, their physicians and party leaders said.

The home affairs adviser to the interim government, M.A. Matin, said on Sunday the government was aware of the condition of Hasina and Khaleda. "But their conditions are not so bad as that of Jalil." (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Writing by Anis Ahmed; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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