Khaleda advises lawyers to cite her illness to secure bail

Lawyers for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia say she has asked them to convey the news of her illness to court during hearings on her bail.

Five lawyers – Zainul Abedin, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, AJ Mohammad Ali, Abdur Rezak Khan, and Mahbub Uddin Khokon – met the former prime minister in the old jailhouse on Nazimuddin Road in Dhaka on Saturday. 

The Appellate Division is set to hear on Tuesday Khaleda’s bail petition in a case over corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust, for which a special court sentenced her to five years in prison on Feb 8.

“Madam said, ‘Please tell the court that I’m critically ill’. Her health is deteriorating due to her long stay in a damp jail,” Khan said.   

He said Khaleda asked them to notify the appeals court that the High Court granted her bail for health reasons.

The High Court on Mar 12 granted Khaleda a four-month interim bail after the special court released the full verdict.

When plaintiff Anti-Corruption Commission and the State moved the Appellate Division, it suspended the bail order until May 8, allowing the ACC and the State to start appeals against the bail.

The appeals court also ordered the ACC and the State to submit a summary of their appeals within a week. The defence was asked to submit its appeal in two weeks.

Defence lawyer Hossain said he had “never seen the High Court bail suspended in his 50-year career”.

“And in this case, they have delayed the hearing for a long time,” he said.

Khaleda will secure bail on May 8 “if an iota of the rule of law remains”, he said.