The High Court on Sunday accepted for hearing Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia鈥檚 appeal against her conviction and sentence in the Zia Charitable Trust case.
Khaleda, also former prime minister, filed the appeal in 2018 following her sentence of seven-year jail, which was remitted by the president after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina government amid the student-people uprising on August 5.
The bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain permitted Khaleda鈥檚 layers to prepare a paper book in her expense for the hearing of the appeal.
Her lawyer Zainul Abedin, argued that the president remitted Khaleda鈥檚 sentence while the appeal remained pending with the court.
Khaleda did not request administrative relief and she sought a legal resolution instead as it was a politically motivated case, he contended.
In addition to the Zia Charitable Trust case, another appeal remains pending with the Appellate Division against Khaleda鈥檚 sentence in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
In Zia Orphanage case, the High Court on October 30, 2018, following the Anti-Corruption Commission appeal, increased her sentence to imprisonment for 10 years from five years.
Bothe the cases were filed during the 2007-08 military-controlled interim regime. Khaleda also faces 35 more cases.
Of the cases, 19 have been dismissed by the courts, and her sentences in both the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust cases were remitted following Hasina鈥檚 ouster and escape to India the mass uprising on August 5.
In March 2020, amid the Covid pandemic, the Awami League 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.