New Delhi: Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia, who has been convicted in a corruption case, was Monday sentenced to seven more years in jail by a court in Dhaka. Zia, 73, whose Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is the main opposition outside parliament, is already serving a jail term since February after being convicted in another case related to embezzlement of funds of an orphanage named after her husband president Ziaur Rahman in February. She was sentenced along with three others.
The case is related to the Zia Charitable Trust, in which the former prime minister and three others were found guilty of abusing their power and raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.
Earlier in the day, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court had rejected a leave-to-appeal petition filed by Zia, which challenged the High Court judgment that allowed a lower court to continue the trial in the graft case in her absence.
On September 20, the court had decided to carry on with the trial inside the old Dhaka central jail in Zia’s absence. Zia had filed a revision petition in the High Court (HC) September 27 seeking to halt the proceedings. The plea was rejected, clearing the way for the trial court to continue the hearing. Zia had skipped appearances in the case citing ill health.
