Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Sunday concluded hearing on the bail petition of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case in which she was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
The court pending its order on the petition saying it will deliver its order after receiving the case records from the lower court.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim conducted the hearing.
The bench on February 22 ordered the lower court to send the case records to this bench in 15 days.
Nearly 300-400 pro-BNP lawyers and activists gathered in front of the court room as the court earlier the day set for hearing the bail petition.
On Thursday, Khaleda Zia filed the appeal petetion with the High Court challenging the special court’s verdict that sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in graft case and also seek bail in the case.
On February 8, a Special Court sentenced Khaleda Zia to five years’ rigorous imprisonment after it had found her and five others guilty in the graft case.
The court also sentenced Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique Rahman, who is now the acting chairman of BNP, and four others to 10 years’ imprisonment each, and fined them a total of Tk 2.10 crore, saying that all the six convicts have to pay the fine in equal amounts.
The Anti-Corruption Commission had filed the case with Ramna Police Station in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that came from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.
Earlier on the day, the two justice partially leave court room after seeing huge lawyers from pro-BNP and pro-government were gathered in the room. Then Khaleda Zia’s lawyers make the pro-BNP lawyers out of the room, later the judges enter the room again.
Apart from these, the pro-BNP lawyers showed demonstrations in the court premises chanting slogans demanding Khaleda Zia’s bail as the court ended hearings without any order.
Khaleda Zia’s lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali took part on hearing on the other hand Attorney General Mahbubey Alam challenges the petition.
