Dhaka:
Bangladesh's Supreme Court has acquitted former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the last remaining corruption case against her, paving the way for the BNP chairman to contest elections. Along with Ms Zia, the Supreme Court also approved the charges against Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and all other accused in their appeal over the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
The verdict was handed down by a bench headed by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed, after considering 79-year-old Zia's appeal against Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling.
Ms Zia had been jailed for a total of 17 years: 10 years in this orphanage case and seven years in the other corruption case in which she was acquitted in November following the ouster of her longtime rival and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The verdict is the latest judicial victory for Ms Zia and BNP, the other major party that has dominated Bangladesh's politics with Ms Hasina's Awami League.
Case Gainst Khaleda Zia
Khaleda Zia, the head of Bangladesh's largest opposition party, was sentenced to five years in prison by the Dhaka Special Court on February 8, 2018 for allegedly embezzling $250,000 in public funds when she became prime minister in 1991.
In the same verdict, five other suspects were sentenced to 10 years in prison, including Zia's son Tarique and former chief secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui. Each of the suspects was also fined.
The former Prime Minister appealed the court's verdict to the Supreme Court, but the sentence was overturned on October 30, 2018 by a Supreme Court bench composed of Justices M. Enayetur Rahim and Justices Md. Mostafizur Rahman, increased to ten years.
She subsequently submitted an application for leave against this punishment. After years of delays due to legal procedural issues and a lack of initiative from lawyers, an Appellate Division of the Supreme Court accepted Ms Zia's leave to appeal on November 11, 2024.
In passing judgment on Wednesday, the Supreme Court noted that the prosecution of the case against the orphanage was “malicious” and motivated by revenge, officially acquitting Ms Zia of charges in the case.
Zia was imprisoned in the Dhaka Central Prison from 2018 to 2020, when her prison sentence was suspended by the Hasina government on health grounds, on the condition that the BNP leader refrain from traveling abroad and participating in politics. She was then placed under house arrest. Ms Hasina's fall in August prompted Ms Zia's release from house arrest.
The verdict will allow Ms Zia to run in the next elections, as Bangladeshi law bans anyone in prison for more than two years from running for political office for the next five years.
The political landscape of Bangladesh
Bangladesh entered a political and economic crisis in August 2024 after months of student-led protests toppled the government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, forcing her to flee to India and ending her 15-year rule.
The South Asian country, which has a population of about 70 million, is currently ruled by interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who has indicated that the next general election could take place late this year or in the first half of 2026, but he is on a non-binding manner without obligation. deadline for the democratic exercise.
However, Ms Zia's party has been pressing the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus for a clear plan to hold national elections soon. The BNP has demanded that the elections should be held in August this year.
Ms Zia, who was prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996 and again from June 2001 to October 2006, is unwell and traveled to London earlier this month for medical treatment.