Staff Reporter :
Law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry, on Monday, recommended a six-month extension of the suspension of Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s sentences on previous conditions.
Papers in this regard, signed by law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister Anisul Huq, were sent to the home ministry on Monday.
Khaleda Zia was released from jail on conditions for six months on an executive order on March 25, 2020, during the novel coronavirus outbreak. Since then she has been staying at her Gulshan house.
The time of suspension of her conviction had been extended for another six months on September 25, 2020, and the time would expire on March 24.
Khaleda was jailed on February 8, 2018, for five years in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and was released from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University’s prison cell on March 25 reportedly on two conditions – she would take medical treatment from home and would not leave the country. She was also sentenced to seven years in jail in Zia Charitable Trust graft case on October 29, 2018.
On October 30, 2018, the High Court doubled her five-year jail term in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
She was granted interim bail in all but the two cases related to Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust.
The BNP chief’s family had submitted an application to the government for her permanent release from jail and taking her abroad for treatment as the suspension of her conviction would expire on March 24.
