Khaleda awaits bail in three more cases, her lawyer says

Khaleda Zia will need bail in three more cases to get freed, one of the lawyers for the BNP chairperson says.

They are aware of 34 cases in total against the BNP chief besides the one for which she was jailed for corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust, according to AKM Ehsanur Rahman, one of the lawyers.

She is on bail in 32 of these cases, including the orphanage trust one, Ehsanur told bdnews24.com on Monday.

“There won’t be any bar to her freedom once she gets bail in the three other cases,” he said.

The three cases include one in Dhaka on charges of defamation through ‘controversial’ comment on the number of Liberation War martyrs.

Khaleda’s defence team filed a bail petition in the case at the High Court on Monday.

The High Court had ordered a Cumilla court to dispose of her bail petition in a case started under the Special Powers Act over the torching of a covered van in Cumilla.

In the other case over murder charges for the deaths of eight in an arson attack on a bus in Cumilla’s Chouddagram during the BNP’s protests in 2015, the lawyers for Khaleda withdrew their bail petition as the hearing of a rule on the case was under way at the High Court.

The former prime minister has been in jail since Feb 8 when a court sentenced her to five years in prison for corruption in the orphanage trust. She secured bail in the case.

The cases over alleged corruption related to Zia Orphanage Trust, Niko and Gatco were started during the military-backed caretaker government.

She is accused of sedition, instigating murder, distortion of history, belittling Bangabandhu by making derogatory remarks and celebrating fake birthday in 30 other cases.