After the High Court, a judge in Narail has denied Khaleda Zia bail in a defamation suit.
Published : 05 Jun 2018, 08:50 PM
Narail District and Sessions Judge Sheikh Abdul Ahad rejected her plea on Tuesday as the magistrate’s court hearing the case was yet to rule on the BNP chief’s bail.
With three months to go before the magistrate court gives its verdict on her bail, the lawyers for Khaleda moved the High Court but it dismissed the plea as ‘not presented’, citing the same reason on May 28.
One Rayhan Faruqi sued Khaleda for libel at a magistrate’s court on Dec 24, 2015, accusing her of defamation by commenting on the number of martyrs in the Liberation War.
The court has set Aug 30 to deliver its decision on her bail plea.
The former prime minister has been in jail since Feb 8 after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison for corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust.
She has secured bail from the Supreme Court in the case, but is yet to be released as several other courts ordered her arrest in different cases.
Bail sought in Cumilla arson case
Khaleda has moved the High Court for bail in a case filed under Special Powers Act over the arson attack on a bus at Jagmohanpur area in Cumilla’s Chouddagram Upazila in 2015.
She filed the bail appeal on Tuesday, challenging the denial of her bail by Cumilla Special Tribunal-1 on Apr 10 this year, said Masud Rana, one of her lawyers.
Eight people were killed in the attack during protests by the alliance of the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami on Feb 3, 2015. Two cases were started over the incident – one for the killings and the other for the use of explosives.
Police named Khaleda as the instigator of the attack in the murder case, which also accused 76 others.