Khaleda Zia's medical treatment abroad: Law ministry says ‘no’
The law ministry has refused to allow BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to go abroad for treatment.
"I have said in the opinion that Khaleda Zia's jail sentence has been suspended as per section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), on condition that she cannot go abroad. Now, there is no scope to relax this condition. Therefore, she cannot go abroad for treatment," Law Minister Anisul Huq told The Daily Star at 4:40pm today.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The law minister sent the opinion to the home ministry through an official this afternoon.
The government released Khaleda Zia on March 25 last year after suspending her jail sentence as per section 401 (1) of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CrPC).
Section 401(1) of the CrPC says, "When any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the Government may at any time without conditions or upon any conditions which the person sentenced accepts, suspend the execution of his/her sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which he/she has been sentenced".
Later on, the suspension of her jail sentence was extended twice and the government issued separate notifications to this effect.
The notification said Khaleda will receive treatment at her home and she cannot go abroad during this period.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has also said there is no scope in the existing law to grant the application to send Khaleda Zia abroad.
The minister said that the Prime Minister has given Khaleda Zia the opportunity to seek treatment at her convenience by staying at home after suspending the sentence under section 401 on humanitarian grounds.
Khaleda recently got infected with Covid-19 and was being treated in the city's Evercare Hospital.
"In the meantime, her younger brother Shamim Eskander made another request to take her abroad. We sent the request to the Law Ministry for legal opinion," said the minister while addressing reporters at the secretariat.
"Law Ministry has clearly opined that there was no chance of to send her (Khaleda) abroad after reconsidering the section 401 for second time under which her sentence was suspended once and she was given medical treatment," said the minister.
"We have done whatever is mentioned in the law. BNP can apply but we have no scope to go beyond the law," the minister added.
The BNP chief landed in jail on February 8, 2018, after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. On October 30, 2018, the High Court raised her punishment to 10 years.
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