Former Bangladesh PM Zia barred from contesting elections; files appeal against 5-year sentence

Dhaka, February 20: The main opposition leader of Bangladesh, the ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who got convicted in a corruption case, has been barred from contesting elections. Following the decision of Bangladesh Election Commission, challenged the five-year prison sentence handed out to her. She claimed for framing her illegally with false, fabricated charges.

In the 1,222-page appeal, Khaleda prayed to the High Court to acquit her of the corruption charge and grant her bail in the case. Khaleda has claimed innocence on 25 grounds. The special court has fixed coming Thursday for hearing on whether it will accept the appeal or not.

Bangladesh ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had been sentenced to five years in jail for corruption by a Dhaka special court. The prominent face in Bangla politics, the chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP), was found guilty in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. The judge sentenced Khaleda the shorter term was for “her health and social status”. She is first ever Prime Minister of Bangladesh who got convicted in such case.

The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission had filed the graft case with Ramna Police Station in July 2008. The case was accusing Khaleda and five others of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that had come from a foreign bank as grants for orphans. Later, a Dhaka court framed charges against the six accused in 2014.