WEB DESK
The jail sentence for the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia in two corruption cases has been suspended for 6 more months.
This is the fourth time that the government has suspended her jail sentence in the Zia Orphanage and Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases, said the Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan in Dhaka on Sunday.
The suspension of the jail sentence has been given conditionally. Begum Khaleda Zia will have to seek treatment in the country as the bail condition does not allow her to go abroad for treatment.
After the outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic, the government of Bangladesh released Begum Khaleda Zia by conditionally suspending her jail sentence for six months on March 25 last year. It was again extended in August last year and March this year.
Family of Begum Khaleda Zia applied to the government seeking permission for her to go abroad for advanced treatment but it was turned down by the government saying that a convicted person can’t be allowed to go abroad for treatment.
Chairperson of Bangladesh’s main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 2017 in connection with two graft cases against her.
The High Court enhanced her imprisonment to 10 years in 2018.
She served jail sentence till March last year before being released conditionally by the government in March last year.