Dhaka:

Bangladesh’s Supreme Court has acquitted former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in the last remaining corruption case against her, paving the way for the BNP Chairperson to contest elections. Along with Ms Zia, the top court also cleared charges against Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, and all other suspects in their appeal over the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The verdict was delivered by a bench led by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed after reviewing 79-year-old Zia’s appeal against the High Court’s ruling on Wednesday.

Ms Zia had faced a total of 17 years in prison– 10 years in this orphanage case and seven in the other corruption case in which she was acquitted in November after the ouster of her longtime rival and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The verdict is the latest judicial victory for Ms Zia and BNP, the other main party that has dominated Bangladesh’s politics with Ms Hasina’s Awami League. 

Case Gainst Khaleda Zia

Khaleda Zia, the head of the largest opposition party in Bangladesh, was sentenced on February 8, 2018, by Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-5 to five years of imprisonment for alleged embezzlement of $250,000 government funds when she became prime minister in 1991.

The same verdict handed down 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for five other accused, including Ms Zia’s son Tarique and former chief secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui. Each of the accused was also fined.

The former Prime Minister appealed the trial court’s verdict to the High Court, but the sentence was increased to 10 years by a High Court bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on October 30, 2018.

She subsequently filed a leave-to-appeal petition against this sentence. After years of delays due to legal procedural issues and a lack of initiative from lawyers, an Appellate Division of the Supreme Court accepted Ms Zia’s leave-to-appeal on November 11, 2024.

Delivering the verdict on Wednesday, the Supreme Court noted that the prosecution of the orphanage trust case was “malicious” and motivated by revenge, officially clearing Ms Zia of the charges in the case.

Zia was imprisoned at Dhaka Central Jail from 2018 to 2020, when her jail term was suspended by the Hasina government on health grounds, under the condition that the BNP leader would refrain from travelling abroad and participating in politics. After that, she was put under house arrest. Ms Hasina’s toppling in August prompted Ms Zia’s release from house arrest.

The verdict will enable Ms Zia to contest the next election, as Bangladeshi law prohibits anyone imprisoned for over two years from running for political office for the next five years.

Bangladesh’s Political Landscape

Bangladesh was plunged into a political and economic crisis in August 2024 after months of protests led by students toppled former premier Sheikh Hasina’s government, forcing her to flee to India and ending her 15-year rule.

The South Asian nation of around 70 million people is currently run by an interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who has indicated that the next general election could be held at the end of this year or the first half of 2026 but has been non-committal on a deadline for the democratic exercise.

Ms Zia’s party, however, has been pressing the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus for a clear plan to hold a national election soon. The BNP has demanded that the election must be held by August this year.

Ms Zia, who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006, is unwell and travelled to London earlier this month for medical treatment.

Dhaka:

Bangladesh’s ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia flew to London on a special royal air ambulance sent by the Emir of Qatar on Tuesday for medical treatment. The three-time former Premier, who is the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is reportedly suffering from ailments including liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease and kidney problems.

The 79-year-old leader left the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka late Tuesday. Before that, hundreds of her supporters gathered outside her residence in Dhaka’s upscale Gulshan area to see her off, according to Dhaka Tribune. 

Her motorcade from her home to the airport reportedly took nearly three hours to cross about a 10-kilometre stretch, with scores of supporters trying to greet her on the way, creating traffic chaos. The journey was broadcast live by Bangladeshi television stations.

Ms Zia is the widow of Bangladesh’s former President Ziaur Rahman. In London, she would reportedly unite with her son Tarique Rahman, who has been residing in the United Kingdom, with his family since 2008. This would be reportedly the first reunion Ms Zia with her son, who is also BNP’s acting chairman,  in seven years and her first overseas trip since her release from jail.

The BNP chief was sentenced to 17 years in jail under ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s rule following two corruption cases stemming from 2001-2006 when she was prime minister. Her supporters claim the charges were politically motivated, an allegation Ms Hasina’s administration denied. 

Under Bangladesh’s interim government under Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Ms Zia was acquitted in one of the cases in November and an appeal in the second case is in court. 

Ms Zia left Dhaka on Tuesday on a special air ambulance sent by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, her personal physician, AZM. Zahid Hossain told the Associated Press.

Bangladesh’s Uncertain Future

The BNP leader left behind a South Asian nation grappling with uncertainty over its political future after the 15-year rule of her archrival Sheikh Hasina ended with her ousted in a student-led mass uprising in August 2024. Ms Hasina fled into exile in India as she and her close aides faced charges of killing hundreds of protesters during a mass protest movement that began in July.

Ms Zia’s party has been bargaining with the Yunus-led government for an election sometime this year. Yunus said his government wants to make some major reforms before planning a poll in December this year or in the first half of 2026.

The former Prime Minister’s departure could create a symbolic vacuum in the country’s politics amid efforts by a student group that led the anti-Hasina protest to form a new political party. In the absence of Ms Hasina and her secular Bangladesh Awami League party, the rise of Islamist political parties and other Islamist groups has been visible in the Muslim-majority country of 170 million people.