Law Ministry denies on Khaleda Zia‍‍`s treatment abroad

 Khaleda Zia will have to go to jail and then apply to the court if she wants to go abroad, according to the Ministry of Law.

Law Minister Anisul Haque said to the journalists earlier this afternoon after a program at the Judicial Administration and Training Institute in the capital that Khaleda Zia‍‍`s application file through the Ministry of Home Affairs is now in the Ministry of Law.

He said all the work of the country should be done by executive orders. Anything outside of this is a violation of the law. 

The BNP chairperson was jailed for being convicted in two cases. Currently, she is free from prison as the sentence is suspended by executive order. The extended release period of the BNP leader ended on September 24 for the seventh time after the sentence was suspended. 

Earlier, the family appealed to the Home Minister for her release and permission to go abroad for better treatment. Begum Zia‍‍`s brother Shamim Iskander made a request through a letter to the Home Minister. The letter mentions the date of September 4, 2023.

Special court number 5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda Zia to five years in prison on February 8, 2018 in the ‍‍`Zia Orphanage Trust‍‍` corruption case. After the verdict, she was lodged in the Old Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road in Old Dhaka. Then on October 30, the High Court extended her sentence by five years to 10 years on appeal in this case.

On October 29 of the same year, the same court sentenced Khaleda Zia to 7 years rigorous imprisonment and another 6 months imprisonment for not paying a fine of Tk 10 lakh in the ‍‍`Zia Charitable Trust‍‍` corruption case.

When the pandemic started in March 2020, the government suspended the sentence and released Khaleda Zia conditionally for six months in view of the family‍‍`s appeal. Since then, she did not have to go to jail again as the period of release was extended.