Hearings in 11 cases against Khaleda Zia scheduled for Apr 10

A Dhaka court has deferred hearings in 11 cases against BNP chief Khaleda Zia, the charges of which include sedition and inciting violence.

Defence counsel Sanaullah Mia told bdnews24.com that that his client was 'unwell.'

"Besides that, we are yet to receive attested copies of the case documents. So, we pleaded more time for the indictment hearings," he added.

The court accepted the plea and fixed Apr 10 for the hearings.

Of the 11 cases, eight cases of inciting violence were filed with Dhaka’s Darus Salam Police Station, two with the Jatrabarhi police.

The sedition case was filed by Awami League Working Committee member and Supreme Court Advocate Momtaz Uddin Ahmed at the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

All the cases are now under the jurisdiction of the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah.

The court was scheduled to hold a hearing on the chargesheet in one of the Jatrabarhi cases on Tuesday. Indictment hearings for the remaining 10 cases are pending.

The hearings were earlier scheduled for Mar 14, but were postponed after defence counsels petitioned for more time citing Khaleda's 'sudden illness.'

The court had then fixed Tuesday.

Sedition charge

Speaking at a discussion on Dec 21 last year, Khaleda expressed doubts about the government's claims that nearly three million people had died during the 1971 Liberation War.

“There is a debate about how many hundreds of thousands were martyred in the Liberation War. Different books give different accounts,” she said.

The BNP chief had also said that Bangabandhu wanted to be the prime minister of undivided Pakistan rather than lead the country to independence.

Awami League leader and Supreme Court lawyer Momtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi sued the former prime minister for her remarks by bringing charges of sedition.

Eight cases of inciting violence

After the BNP was prevented from holding a rally on Jan 5 2015 to protest the anniversary of the 10th Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections, Khaleda Zia called a nationwide blockade.

In the course of the blockade that lasted 90 days, vehicles and buildings were fire-bombed, leading to almost 150 deaths.

Numerous cases of inciting violence were filed at the time. Nine cases accusing Khaleda Zia were filed at the Darus Salam police station, eight under the Special Powers Act.

The court granted Khaleda bail in the cases. The cases under the Special Powers Act are awaiting an indictment hearing at the moment.

Jatrabarhi firebombing case

A petrol bomb explosion in Jatrabari’s Kather Pool area during last year’s blockades led to the injury of 30 bus passengers. One of the victims, Noor Alam, later died of burns.

Jatrabarhi police filed two cases, where Khaleda has been accused of inciting the attack.

Police pressed charges on the former prime minister and 37 others in the cases, one for the death and the other under the Explosives Act.