The High Court on Wednesday dismissed the proceedings in 11 criminal cases filed against former prime minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia during the Awami League government.
Of the cases, 10 were filed on sabotage charges and the rest one was filed on sedition charge in 2015鈥�16
Seven of the sabotage cases were filed with the Darus Salam police station, the rest three with the Jatrabari police station in Dhaka while the sedition case was filed with a Dhaka metropolitan magistrate court, alleging that Khaleda Zia had questioned the death toll from the 1971 Liberation War.
The bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain quashed the cases after hearing Khaleda鈥檚 petitions challenging the proceedings.
Khaleda鈥檚 lawyer Zainul Abedin told reporters that the court cancelled the arson and violence cases on the basis that the former prime minister was not present at the alleged crime scenes.
Additionally, the sedition case was dismissed as it had been filed by a pro-Awami League lawyer without formal state permission, a required procedure.
Khaleda has faced 37 cases, 18 of which have been dismissed by the courts while the government remitted her sentences given by special judge鈥檚 courts in the Zia Orphanage Trust case and the Zia Charitable Trust case following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina government amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.
In March 2020, amid the Covid pandemic, the government granted Khaleda temporary release from prison under an executive order on conditions.
The conditional release has been extended multiple times to keep her out of jail considering her health condition.