Early release unlikely for Khaleda: minister

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia is unlikely to be released from jail soon as the former premier is facing arrest warrants in five out of 37 cases filed against her in connection with various charges, including arson and graft.Talking to newsmen, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Khaleda Zia is facing a number of cases and arrest warrants have already been issued against her in some cases in the meantime.“The lower court has sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in connection with the Zia Orphanage Trust case while the trial proceedings of the Zia Charitable trust case are nearing completion. The lower courts have already issued an arrest warrant against her in the meantime.So, it is the matter of court as to whether or not she will come out of jail very soon,” Kamal said.The home minister added that the government would not revive any case filed against her in the past in connection with various charges, including arson and corruption.Khaleda is yet to receive the certified copy of the verdict of the lower court that sentenced her to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.After receiving the certified copy of the verdict, the BNP chief will file an appeal with the High Court (HC) seeking bail in the case.If she secures bail from the HC, the Anti-Corruption Commission may appeal to the Supreme Court against the HC order.So, the completion of all procedures will take time, which is why the BNP chief is unlikely to come out of jail very soon, as many lawyers explained about her bail on condition of anonymity.ACC lawyer Mosarraf Hossain Kajol said there is no specific timeframe for the court to provide the certified copy of the verdict.However, it is the right of the accused to secure a certified copy of the verdict within a short time.“Khaleda may have prayed for a certified copy of the verdict. I hope she will receive the certified copy of the verdict very soon,” Hossain added.Sanullah Miah, one of the counsels for the BNP chief, said they would file the appeal with the HC after receiving the certified copy of the lower court’s verdict. “We are yet to receive the copy of the lower court verdict. After receiving the copy, we will move the High Court,” he said.Legal experts opined that the BNP chief may not come out of jail very soon, if, in the meantime, the government makes her shown arrested in five cases, in which she faced arrest warrants from the various lower courts.If the government does so, the BNP chief would have to secure bail in those cases, they opined.According to the pro-BNP lawyers’ data, the BNP chief is now facing a total of 37 cases, and police have submitted charges in a total of 17 cases.Of the cases, four were filed during the tenure of the Army-backed government that ruled between 2006 and 2008.The cases were filed with respect to corruption in cases related to Barapukuria Coal Mine, GATCO, NIKO and the Zia Orphanage Trust.Among the 37 cases, the lower court yesterday sent the BNP chief to jail after sentencing her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.The lower courts have also issued arrest warrants against her in five cases as she did not appear before the court in accordance with its orders.On October 9 last year, a Comilla court had issued an arrest warrant for Khaleda Zia and 45 others in the explosives case filed in connection with the 2015 arson attack on a bus in Chouddagram, which left eight people dead.On January 2 this year, another Comilla court issued an arrest warrant for the BNP chairperson in a murder case filed in connection with the 2015 arson attack on a bus in Chouddagram upazila that left eight people dead.Eight people were killed and at least 20 others injured when miscreants hurled a petrol bomb at a bus at Chouddagram’s Jogmohanpur on February 3, 2015, during the BNP-led alliance’s nationwide anti-government movement.Two cases—one under the Explosive Substances Act and another for murder—were started against 56 people, including Khaleda, over the incident.On August 30, 2016, Gazi Zahirul Islam, former joint general secretary of the Dhaka Union of Journalists, filed the case against Khaleda for allegedly celebrating a fake birthday on August 15 every year.A Dhaka court has earlier issued an arrest warrant against Khaleda in connection with the case.AB Siddique, president of the pro-government Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, filed the case with the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on November 3, 2016, accusing Khaleda and her late husband and former president Ziaur Rahman of undermining the country’s map and national flag.The court issued an arrest warrant against Khaleda in the meantime.On October 12 last year last year, a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia in a case filed for undermining the country’s map and national flag.According to the case statement, Khaleda Zia had formed a coalition government with Jamaat-e-Islami in 2001.She appointed Jamaat leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohamed Mujahid as ministers and handed over the map and the national flag of independent Bangladesh to them even though they had fought against the country during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.It will take a long time for the BNP chief to secure bail from the HC in all five cases if the government makes her shown arrested in all these cases, according to the lawyers who were consulted.