Hearing on Khaleda Zia’s bail plea begins

Dhaka: The Supreme Court has begun the hearing on the leave-to-appeal petitions challenging BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s bail that the High Court granted her in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, on Tuesday morning.

The four-member bench of the appellate division, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, is hearing the appeal which has begun around 9:40am, reports the UNB.

Khaleda Zia’s lawyers, meanwhile, voiced high hope that the apex court will grant bail to Khaleda considering her health condition, age and social status.

On March 19, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court stayed Khaleda Zia’s bail till May 8 in the graft case in which she was convicted by the lower court and sent to jail.

The SC also allowed the State and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to file petitions against the HC order that granted bail to Khaleda.

On February 8 last, the Dhaka Special Court-5 convicted the former Prime Minister and BNP chairperson and sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. She was then sent to old central jail at Nazimuddin Road in the city.

She secured four months’ bail from the High Court in the case on March 12.

On March 15, the ACC and the State filed two leave-to-appeal petitions before the Appellate Division challenging Khaleda Zia’s bail secured from the High Court in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Later, the Appellate Division stayed Khaleda Zia’s bail till May 8 in the case.

Meanwhile, Khaleda Zia asked her lawyers to bring the matter of her ‘serious illness’ to the notice of the Supreme Court during the hearing on her bail in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on Tuesday as they went to meet her on May 5.