BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has censured the government for allowing lawmaker Haji Mohammad Salim, convicted in a graft case, to travel to Thailand.
“The overseas travel of convict Haji Salim has exposed that [BNP Chairperson] Khaleda Zia was jailed in false cases for purely political reasons,” he said while talking to reporters after offering fateha at the grave of party founder General Ziaur Rahman.
Fakhrul said they prayed to the Almighty Allah to save people from the current situation. "We also prayed for the establishment of democracy in the county and an end to autocracy," he added.
Referring to the US' recent Human Rights Report, the former junior minister said the report mentioned that the BNP chief had been convicted in political cases out of political "vengeance”.
He alleged that the government wanted to perpetuate its power by unjustly keeping Khaleda in jail and repressing BNP leaders and activists.
Also Read - Law Ministry gives nod to Khaleda's jail sentence suspension
On Monday, the media reported that independent lawmaker from Dhaka-7 constituency and Awami League leader Haji Salim went to Thailand despite being ordered by the High Court on February 10 to surrender before a trial court within 30 days.
A close aide told Dhaka Tribune that the MP would return to the country on May 6 after treatment.
Three-time former premier Khaleda Zia, 76, is currently staying at her Gulshan residence after the government again extended the suspension of her jail sentence in March this year, allowing her to stay out of prison for another six months.
On February 8, 2018, Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail after a subordinate court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. The High Court later doubled her jail term.
The former prime minister was found guilty in another corruption case the same year. Her party claims both cases are politically motivated.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government freed Khaleda Zia from jail for six months through an executive order, suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020 under two conditions – she would take treatment from home in Dhaka and would not go abroad during this period.
Also Read - Convicted in graft case, Haji Salim leaves country
Khaleda Zia was admitted to the hospital several times and she also contracted Covid-19.
During this time, she has not appeared in any court proceedings in nearly two dozen cases on health grounds.
On February 1, 2022, Khaleda Zia returned to her Gulshan residence after spending 49 days at Evercare Hospital in the capital.
The BNP chief's physicians said that she had been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, ophthalmological and dental complications.
Khaleda’s treatment abroad
Even though the government suspended the jail sentence, it has maintained that Khaleda Zia cannot be taken abroad for advanced treatment as demanded by her family and her party.
On December 8 last year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the government had shown great generosity to Khaleda Zia by allowing her to stay at home and receive treatment, though Khaleda's intention was always to hurt the Bangabandhu family.
Also Read - Fakhrul: Government afraid of Khaleda Zia’s popularity
Law Minister Anisul Huq earlier said the government had released the BNP chief after suspending her jail sentence as per Section 401 (1) of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CrPC).
Section 401(1) of the CrPC says: "When any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the government may at any time without conditions or upon any conditions which the person sentenced accepts, suspend the execution of his/her sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which he/she has been sentenced."
On August 28, 2021, the law minister said that Khaleda Zia would have to return to jail if she wanted to seek permission to go abroad for treatment.
