BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been put behind bars as part of the government’s plot to hold one-sided elections and to keep her out of the election process, the party alleges.
“The government wants to make sure that a one-sided election is held without trouble and Khaleda Zia cannot contest in the polls,” BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said at a press briefing held at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters on Wednesday.
He said: “She has been sent to jail as part of this conspiracy.”
Rizvi alleged that Khaleda had been sent to jail as part of a political vendetta. The case filed against her was also politically motivated.
Staying the BNP chief’s bail procedure is also politically motivated, he added.
Responding to Attorney General Mahbubey Alam’s comment that Khaleda Zia would not be able to get out of jail, the BNP leader said: “How do you say that?”
“It seemed that the prime minister had bestowed infinite power on him to keep the judiciary under his grip.”
He said the law minister also made a similar comment about Khaleda Zia.
“From these comments, it is evident that she [Khaleda Zia] has been kept at the abandoned jail at Sheikh Hasina’s wish.”
Rizvi claimed that Khaleda Zia’s popularity is increasing since she was sent to jail in a false case.
On the appeal filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission against Khaleda Zia’s verdict, Rizvi said: “The ACC acts like a bat that cannot see at night. It follows the prime minister’s directives.”
On February 8, the Dhaka’s Fifth Special Court convicted the BNP chief and sentenced her to five years in jail in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. She was then sent to the old central jail on Nazimuddin Road in Dhaka.
The High Court granted her interim bail for four months.
Meanwhile, the ACC and state filed two leave to appeal petitions before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court challenging the BNP chief’s bail.
Later, the Supreme Court stayed the bail until May 8.This article was first published on banglatribune.com
Sunday, March 23, 2025
