“Khaleda Zia hasn’t decided (to seek) parole for treatment,” the BNP secretary general told a discussion in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Without naming “the English daily”, Mirza Fakhrul described its report on the BNP chief’s “imminent parole and foreign tour” as “yellow journalism”.
The BNP leader urged the media to refrain from publishing “such reports”.
“The consequences of misleading the people won’t be good,” he said.
The former prime minister has been serving total 17 years in jail in two corruption cases since February last year.
She is at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka for treatment now under the supervision of the jail authorities.
After visiting her at the hospital on Sunday amid speculations over her release, Mirza Fakhrul told the media that the decision to seek parole depended on Khaleda and her family, not the party.
Earlier this month, as political discussions about possibilities of her seeking parole continued, Mirza Fakhrul had said the BNP demands unconditional release of its chief from jail, not parole.
Government ministers said the legal procedure will be followed if Khaleda applied for parole.
Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, a BNP leader and one of the lawyers for Khaleda, had demanded last year that the BNP chief be freed on parole for treatment. He had said he saw it as being the only path that leads to her release.