The government decided to release incarcerated BNP chief Khaleda Zia on ‘humanitarian grounds,’ suspending her prison terms on condition for six months.
On Tuesday (Mar 24), Law Minister Anisul Huq said that Khaleda is being released as per Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instruction and her sentence being suspended under section 401 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Section 401 (1) dictates, “when any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the Government may at any time without conditions or upon any conditions which the person sentenced excepts, suspend the execution of his sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which he has been sentenced.”
However, the former premier will not be allowed to leave her Dhaka home ‘Feroza’ with the exception of going to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and neither will she be allowed to go abroad.
Responding to queries on whether Khaleda will be under police surveillance, Khaleda’s counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said that the law does not provision for it.
However, she will be under police protection for security reasons, he added.
Khaleda who is currently undergoing treatment at BSMMU, was sentenced to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8, 2017.
Later on Oct 30, the High Court raised her sentence to ten years after an appeal.
The former premier was also sentenced to seven years on Oct 29, 2018, for her involvement in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case.