Former PM was sent to jail in February 2018 on charges of embezzling foreign donations meant for an orphanage
DHAKA – Bangladesh on Wednesday released jailed former Prime Minister and main opposition leader Khaleda Zia for six months on condition that she would stay at home, amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The 74-year-old opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief is serving a 17-year prison term in two graft cases since February 8, 2018.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Zia was freed conditionally on humanitarian grounds after PM Sheikh Hasina’s approval.
Wearing a mask and clad in a black saree, Zia came out of the jail in a wheelchair. She was flanked by her supporters and party workers. She rode a car to her home in Dhaka’s posh Gulshan colony.
Kamal said Hasina decided to free her as Zia’s brother Eskandar and sister Selima Rahman recently met the premier with an appeal for the BNP leader’s release.
