The Appellate Division Wednesday upheld the decision of High Court to grant bail to BNP chief Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust case, but it does not guarantee her release right at the moment, said former law minister Moudud Ahmed.
After the order, Khaleda’s lawyer Moudud told reporters that her release from jail would take some more time as there are still some obstacles left.
“Khaleda Zia could not be released from the jail as she was shown arrested in seven more cases after she obtained bail from the HC about a month ago,” Moudud said.
Khaleda is serving five years sentence in the graft case.
“The government will try its best to delay her release from jail. We have to wait until we get bail from the lower court in all the cases she has been shown arrest. This will take some more time. We will try to complete the job as soon as possible,” the former law minister added.
In reply to a query on how long would it take to end the process, the lawyer said, “We will get a clear idea once the hearing starts. Then we will know how many days it might take. It is not possible to forecast now.”
Moudud also said, “We hope there wouldn’t be much problem now in getting bail in other cases as the Appellate Division has upheld her bail decision granted by the High Court. But we have to go through the legal process.”
A four-member bench chaired by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain pronounced the verdict after hearing two appeals filed by the government and the ACC to cancel the HC order that had granted her bail.
The court Wednesday also ordered an HC bench to dispose of Khaleda’s appeal against the sentence by July 31.
On February 8, the Dhaka Special Court-5 convicted the BNP chief and sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust Fund embezzlement case. She was then sent to old central jail at Nazimuddin Road in the city.