BNP lawyers visit Khaleda in jail, may appeal this week after getting verdict copy

After visiting Khaleda Zia in jail, her lawyers have said they will file an appeal with the High Court challenging her conviction by a special court as soon as they obtain a copy of the verdict this week.

Moudud Ahmed, one of the five lawyers who visited Khaleda in the old jail on Nazimuddin Road in Dhaka on Saturday, told the media that they would file the appeal on Monday or Tuesday.    

After the delivery of the verdict last Thursday, Moudud, a former law minister, said the appeal to overturn the judgment would likely be filed on Sunday.

The others who met Khaleda on Saturday are former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, former Supreme Court Bar Association president Khandker Mahbub Hossain, former attorney general AJ Mohammad Ali and Abdur Rezak Khan, who stood for her in the hearings of Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The former prime minister has been sentenced to jail for five years for embezzling Tk 21 million. Her son BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman and four others got 10 years in jail and fined Tk 20 million each.

Moudud also said the authorities were not providing Khaleda with the facilities a former prime minister deserves in prison as a Division 1 inmate.

“She (Khaleda) is given inedible food the other prisoners get,” Moudud said.

He said Fatema Begum, the 35-year-old woman who has been serving Khaleda as house help for around two decades, was not allowed to take care of the BNP chief in jail.

The authorities earlier said five female prison officials, including a deputy jailer, were taking care of Khaleda, the solitary prisoner in the Old Dhaka jail, now being used for only administrative purposes.