DHAKA: A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced former top minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia to some other seven years in jail on corruption fees that her supporters say are politically motivated.
Zia, long a rival to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is already in the back of bars after being passed a five-year term in February on separate embezzlement fees.
That verdict brought about clashes between police and hundreds of supporters of the principle opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which Zia nonetheless leads from jail.
In her latest trial, Judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzman found the 73-year-old to blame of abuse of energy and misusing 31.five million taka ($375,000) destined for a charitable fund.
This fresh conviction is predicted to further impede her possibilities of difficult Hasina, who has been accused of stifling her warring parties, in a common election slated for December.
There was no rapid response from Zia's BNP, however her lawyers have consistently described the trial as "political vengeance".
Zia, once an best friend to Hasina, boycotted the 2014 common election which saw her opponent returned to energy.
Zia entered politics in the mid-1980s after her husband, a former army dictator, was assassinated in an abortive coup.
She faces dozens of separate fees associated with violence and corruption that her lawyers insist are baseless.
Zia says the charges are designed to keep her family out of politics.
In fresh months, her health has deteriorated inside Dhaka Central jail the place she is the only prisoner in incarceration.
She was absent from the court Monday as she was being treated in hospital for various ailments.
A unique room throughout the jail was converted into a makeshift court so to speedy monitor her trial.
Her lawyers protested the move, described it as unconstitutional.
Her family suffered some other political blow this month when her eldest son and heir obvious to the opposition motion, Tarique Rahman, was jailed for life in absentia.
He lives in exile in London.
Rahman was found to blame of enjoying key role in a 2004 grenade assault on the political rally of Hasina, which killed no less than 20 other people and injured the then opposition leader.
Zia, long a rival to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is already in the back of bars after being passed a five-year term in February on separate embezzlement fees.
That verdict brought about clashes between police and hundreds of supporters of the principle opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which Zia nonetheless leads from jail.
In her latest trial, Judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzman found the 73-year-old to blame of abuse of energy and misusing 31.five million taka ($375,000) destined for a charitable fund.
This fresh conviction is predicted to further impede her possibilities of difficult Hasina, who has been accused of stifling her warring parties, in a common election slated for December.
There was no rapid response from Zia's BNP, however her lawyers have consistently described the trial as "political vengeance".
Zia, once an best friend to Hasina, boycotted the 2014 common election which saw her opponent returned to energy.
Zia entered politics in the mid-1980s after her husband, a former army dictator, was assassinated in an abortive coup.
She faces dozens of separate fees associated with violence and corruption that her lawyers insist are baseless.
Zia says the charges are designed to keep her family out of politics.
In fresh months, her health has deteriorated inside Dhaka Central jail the place she is the only prisoner in incarceration.
She was absent from the court Monday as she was being treated in hospital for various ailments.
A unique room throughout the jail was converted into a makeshift court so to speedy monitor her trial.
Her lawyers protested the move, described it as unconstitutional.
Her family suffered some other political blow this month when her eldest son and heir obvious to the opposition motion, Tarique Rahman, was jailed for life in absentia.
He lives in exile in London.
Rahman was found to blame of enjoying key role in a 2004 grenade assault on the political rally of Hasina, which killed no less than 20 other people and injured the then opposition leader.
Bangladesh court jails former PM Khaleda Zia for 7 years for graft
![Bangladesh court jails former PM Khaleda Zia for 7 years for graft]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
October 29, 2018
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