Khaleda Zia to stay out of jail for another six months

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Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was out of the prison last year following the spread of Covid 19 pandemic, is set to enjoy six more months outside the jail.</p>
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According to <a href="https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/09/12/khaleda-zia-gets-6-month-extension-to-stay-out-of-jail-says-law-minister">Dhaka Tribune</a>, Law Minister Anisul Huq told Bangla daily Samakal that his ministry has forwarded its opinion to the Home Ministry in favour of the former prime minister,</p>
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“We have recommended [to extend the suspension of the prison sentence]. And as far as I know, the Home Ministry has approved it,” the minister has been quoted as saying.</p>
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The 75 year-old Zia’s family had sought the permission of the Home Ministry to extend suspension of the prison sentence “on the grounds of her treatment for post-coronavirus and other complications at home,” Dhaka Tribune said.</p>
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Zia had tested Covid 19 positive on April 10. After nearly four weeks, she was finally declared Covid free.</p>
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In March, the Sheikh Hasina government approved the proposal of suspending Zia's prison sentences for six more months amid the outbreak of the pandemic.</p>
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Zia is currently fighting several graft cases that she has been charged with.</p>
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On July 3, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against Khaleda Zia, her son and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and four others with Ramna police station, accusing them of misappropriating Tk2.1 crore — donations meant for a trust to be formed in her husband's name, the newspaper said. It also noted that on February 8, 2018, a special court convicted the former PM and sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the case. She was sent to serve her sentence at a special jail in the Old Dhaka Central Jail building on Nazimuddin Road.</p>