Attorney General, Mahbubey Alam, has said that the high court’s (HC) verdict in the Orphanage Trust graft case is a message for the politicians.

“This verdict, without a doubt, indicates that no one is above the law even if it is perpetrated from a position of state power. So, this (verdict) is a message to the politicians,” Alam told journalists on Tuesday after a HC bench extended BNP Chief Khaleda Zia’s sentence.

When asked whether the former premier will get to take part in polls, Alam replied: “certainly not until the conviction is overturned.”

There are two ways for that. One, getting the sentence scrapped through appeal petition and two, getting it stayed.”

“My opinion is, if someone is willing to contest polls, the sentence must be scrapped. One cannot be in polls after temporary staying of sentence.”

So, Khaleda Zia cannot contest polls, until the sentence is scrapped, added Alam.

When precedents of polls participation after getting the sentence stayed were pointed out, the attorney general said, “Many may have done it through loopholes in law. But, according to me, as long as the sentence is effective, one is ineligible to contest polls.”