Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk:BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia may appeal to the High Court today against the trial court verdict that sentenced her to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, one of her lawyers said.
“We will also file her bail petition before the High Court along with the appeal,” Khaleda’s lawyer Sanaullah Miah told this newspaper after receiving the certified copy of the judgment yesterday.
A convict needs the certified copy of the verdict to appeal against the judgment or file bail petition with the HC.
Mokarram Hossain, an official of the Special Judge Court-5 of Dhaka, handed over the 1,100-page verdict to Sanaullah, 11 days after the judgment was delivered.
On February 8, Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the special court sentenced Khaleda to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the graft case, dealing a severe blow to the party ahead of the upcoming national elections.
The court also gave jail sentences to her eldest son and BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman and four others for 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Tk 2.10 crore on each.
On that day, it cancelled Khaleda’s bail and sent her to prison. Law enforcers then took her to the old Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road in the capital.
On February 11, the same court directed the jail authorities to provide Khaleda with a first-class division in line with the jail code and allow her house help to stay with her in jail.
That night, she was moved to one of the four rooms on the first floor of the renovated day-care centre in the jail from the room of a nearby two-storey building, once used as the jail superintendent’s office.
In July 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case with Ramna Police Station, accusing Khaleda and five others of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that had come from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.thedailystar
