The government is going to extend the suspension of conviction of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia for another six months following an application for her treatment abroad on release.
‘We have given our opinion for extending the suspension of the conviction of BNP chairperson for another six months on same conditions,’ law minister Anisul Huq told New Age on Wednesday.
Seventy-six year old Khaleda Zia’s file was sent back to the home ministry with the law ministry’s opinion on Wednesday for an official order, according to officials.
Khaleda Zia’s conviction had been suspended for another six months on the conditions that she would take medical treatment staying at her home in Dhaka and shall not leave the country during the period.
The BNP as well as Khaleda’s family have been pressing for her unconditional release so that the ailing former prime minister could avail treatment abroad.
On March 1, Khaleda’s family submitted an application to the government for her permanent release and taking her abroad for treatment.
The BNP chairperson’s youngest brother, Shamim Iskander, submitted the appeal to the home ministry on behalf of the family as the suspension of her conviction in a graft case scheduled to expire on March 24.
Khaleda was first released from jail on the two conditions for six months on an executive order on March 25, 2020 during the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Khaleda was jailed on February 8, 2018 for five years in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and was released from the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University’s prison cell on March 25, 2020.
She was also sentenced for seven years in jail in Zia Charitable Trust case on October 29, 2018.
On October 30, 2018, the High Court doubled her five-year jail term in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
