‘ Zia’s lawyers delayed her privileges in jail’
Dhaka, Feb. 18: Khaleda Zia’s counsels were led more by their emotions than professional obligations which delayed her getting privileges she was entitled to as the former premier in the prison after being convicted in a graft case, law minister Anisul Huq said on Sunday.
The 72- year- old threetime former prime minister and main opposition leader was on February sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment by Dhaka’s Special Court in connection with the embezzlement of 21 million taka ( about $ 250,000) in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust, named after her late husband Ziaur Rahman, a military ruler- turned- politician.
“The ‘ learned’ defence team of Zia on that day ( of verdict) was busy in shedding tears as much as they could. But they did not file the required prayer for her division status,” Huq told reporters on the sidelines of a function.
Prison authorities accommodated Zia for three days in a refurbished abandoned office of a prison official in Dhaka’s old central jail, which is now relocated on the outskirts of the capital, after she was awarded the sentence.
Four days after the verdict, the prison authorities received a court directive ordering the special division facilities for Zia and allow her personal domestic aide Fatema Begum to be inside the jail as her companion.