Sentence of Khaleda to be suspended again
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The government is going to again extend the suspension of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's jail sentence for six more months, as the law ministry has given its opinion to this effect.
The home ministry would issue a notification soon in this regard. This suspension would be the fifth.
Law Minister Anisul Huq, who is now in the US, told The Daily Star yesterday that he gave his opinion on the issue a few days ago.
"I earlier said the government would further extend the suspension of the prison sentence of the BNP chief if her family wanted it. Then her family applied to the government. I sent the relevant file with my opinion for extending it on the previous conditions to the home ministry, which will now issue a notification to this effect," he said.
"Khaleda Zia would not be able to go abroad and she has to take treatment inside the country," the law minister said.
Anisul said the government freed the BNP chief after suspending her jail sentence as per section 401 (1) of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CrPC).
On March 25, 2020, Khaleda was freed from jail after the government suspended her jail sentence for six months. She walked out of jail at a time when the world was reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The BNP chief landed in jail on February 8, 2017, after being sentenced to five years' imprisonment by a special court in Dhaka in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. On October 30 the following year, the High Court enhanced her punishment to 10 years after dismissing her appeal.
The former prime minister was convicted by another special court in Dhaka in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case on October 29, 2018. Khaleda was sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment by the court.
She is now in her Gulshan home.
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