The High Court has extended the bail of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia for one year in five separate cases. Three of the cases were filed in Dhaka and one each in Narail and Cumilla.
Two HC benches issued the extension orders following five separate prayers moved by Khaleda Zia’s lawyers.
The HC bench of Justice Muhammad Abdul Hafiz and Justice Mohammad Ali on Tuesday extended the bail in the three defamation cases filed in Dhaka and the one in Narail filed in 2018.
Another HC bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo on Monday extended Khaleda Zia’s bail in a murder case filed in Cumilla in 2015.
Barrister Kaiser Kamal Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun, AHM Kamruzzaman Mamun and Advocate Roknuzzaman Shuja represented former prime minister Khaleda Zia in the court.
Kamruzzaman Mamun told media that Khaleda Zia is accused in 36 criminal cases and she is now on bail in 34 cases.
Convicted in two corruption cases, the BNP chief was temporarily released on an executive order considering her age and on humanitarian grounds amid the Covid-19 pandemic situation on March 25 in 2020.
After being released from the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, she has been staying at her Gulshan residence since then.
The government later stayed the prison sentence of Khaleda Zia, for the fourth time, in two graft cases for another six months through an executive order in September this year.
On 8 February 2018, Khaleda Zia landed in jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. Later on 30 October that year the High Court extended her punishment to 10 years dismissing her appeal.
Besides, Khaleda Zia was sentenced to seven years after a special court convicted her in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case in October 2018.
