HC dismisses 11 cases filed against Khaleda Zia during AL regime
The High Court bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossein issued the verdict after disposing of the rules issued for the annulment of the cases
The High Court has dismissed 11 sedition and sabotage cases filed during the Awami League regime against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The High Court bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossein passed the order today (30 October) after disposing of the rules issued for the annulment of the cases.
Senior lawyers Zainul Abedin, Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Barrister Nasir Uddin Asim, Barrister Kaiser Kamal, Barrister Ragib Rauf Chowdhury, Advocate Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal, Advocate Md Zakir Hossain, Barrister HM Sanjid Siddique, Advocate Tareq Bhuiya, and Advocate M Sabbir Ahmed represented Khaleda in the court.
According to Khaleda's lawyers, of these 11 cases, 10 were filed against her in 2015, three with Jatrabari and seven with Darus Salam police stations.
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Another sedition case was filed against Khaleda in January 2016 over a comment on the number of the 1971 Liberation War martyrs.
The BNP chief had been on bail in all these cases.
Khaleda's name was either present in the First Information Report (FIR) or was included in the charge sheets of these cases. The case proceedings had remained suspended for a long time following an HC order, Khaleda's lawyers said.
Advocate Zainul Abedin told reporters that there was no evidence that Khaleda Zia was present on the spot or gave any order in any of the cases filed on charges of sabotage. Police submitted charge sheets in the cases unnecessarily, he said.
Since 2007, a total of 36 cases including the Zia Orphanage Trust case, Niko corruption case and Gatco case were filed against Khaleda on various charges. Of these, 15 have been dismissed so far.
Khaleda was sent to Old Dhaka Central Jail on 8 February 2018, after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case, reports UNB.
On 30 October 2018, the High Court raised her punishment to 10 years. Later, she was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail after 776 days through an executive order suspending her sentence on 25 March 2020, with conditions that she would stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.
On 6 August, she was completely freed by an order of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.
