Khaleda must seek presidential pardon if she wants to go abroad for treatment: Law Minister

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia has no option other than seeking presidential pardon, Law Minister Anisul Huq said today (4 October) during a brief at the Secretariat.

"The legal issues are now a thing of the past and completely closed. The only thing Khaleda Zia can do right now is to confess to her crime and apologise to the president," he told reporters responding to a question about whether or not Khaleda Zia can seek presidential pardon – just as murder convict Tofael Ahmed Joseph did on 27 May 2018 and went abroad.

Anisul also said Khaleda Zia is not allowed to get treatment abroad as per the provisions in the executive order.

While talking to reporters on Monday (2 October), Anisul mentioned the two conditions when the government suspended Khaleda's jail sentence in March 2020. 

One of the conditions was that Khaleda would not travel out of the country, the law minister said. "She also has to seek medical treatment within the country." 

The decision to suspend her sentence was made under section 401(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The law minister further said once an application is disposed of under section 401 of the CrPC, there is no scope to reconsider it under the law.

Khaleda Zia has been released from jail for six months, and the release order has been extended eight times since then, he noted.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has been in jail since February 8, 2018 in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.

Meanwhile, in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case, Khaleda Zia was sentenced to seven years as a special court convicted her on 27 October 2019.