Petition submitted for extending Khaleda’s jail term suspension, treatment abroad

A petition was submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday seeking another extension of the suspension of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's jail term and permission to take her abroad for better treatment.

Khaleda Zia’s younger brother, Shamim Eskander, submitted the petition, saying that her life is at risk.

Earlier on September 18, 2023, the government extended the conditional suspension of Khaleda Zia’s jail term for another six months. With this, her jail sentence suspension was extended for the eighth time.

Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order by suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with conditions that she would stay at her Gulshan house and would not leave the country. Since then, her release term has been extended every six months following the family's plea.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later, she was found guilty and convicted in another corruption case the same year.

Khaleda, 78, a former prime minister, has long been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.

Source: UNB