Khaleda Zia

Amid diplomatic chill caused by arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's criticism of India has intensified recently

Bangladesh's High Court on Sunday acquitted former prime minister Khaleda Zia's son, Tarique Rahman, and 48 others, overturning their verdicts in a deadly 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. The ruling comes at a critical time as the South Asian country suffers political tension after longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country to India in August following a mass uprising that left hundreds dead. Rahman serves as the acting chairperson of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party while in self-exile in London, and could become Bangladesh's next leader if his party is voted into power. Rahman and the 48 others were found guilty in 2018 in the attack targeting a rally held by supporters of Hasina, who led the opposition at the time, leaving two dozen people dead and wounding about 300 others. A court sentenced 19 of them to death while Rahman got life in prison, with Zia's party accusing the ruling counterpart of being politically motivated. A two-member judge panel scrappe

Bangladesh High Court on Wednesday acquitted former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a corruption case in which she was sentenced to seven years in jail by a lower court, according to media reports. Zia, 79, was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case in 2018 by a Dhaka court. It also sentenced her to seven years imprisonment under the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government and fined her Tk 1 million. A bench of Justices AKM Asaduzzaman and Syed Enayet Hossain overturned the decision based on an appeal by Zia, the bdnews24.com news portal reported. Two others accused in the case were also acquitted by the court. The graft case was filed in 2011 by the Anti-Corruption Commission with Tejgaon Police Station, accusing Zia and three others of abusing power to raise funds for the trust from unknown sources, the Daily Star news portal reported. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson was lodged in the Old Dhaka Central Jail

Recently, in a political outreach, Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, Pranay Verma, held a meeting with BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir at the BNP office to discuss relations

Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia was admitted to a private hospital in the early hours of Thursday, according to a media report. The 79-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson arrived at the Evercare Hospital from her Gulshan residence around 1:40 am, BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan was quoted as saying by the Dhaka Tribune newspaper. Her physician, Professor AZM Zahid Hossain, said the medical board has recommended several tests and she has been placed in a private cabin following her admission to the hospital. The next course of her treatment will be determined after reviewing the test results, he said. On August 21, Zia had returned home after 45 days treatment at the same hospital. The former prime minister, who was under house arrest for the past five years, was freed by an order of Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin on August 6. She was acquitted of all charges against her following the fall of the Awami League government led by he

Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia has been acquitted in five separate cases, including one filed over allegations of celebrating a fake birthday and another for supporting war criminals, a media report said on Tuesday. Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubul Haque's court issued acquittal orders in four cases whereas Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Tofazzal Hossain's court acquitted her in one case on Tuesday, The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported. The defendant, 79-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Zia, was acquitted after the plaintiff did not appear in court. In August 2016, a case was filed against Zia by a journalist for celebrating a fake birthday. The complaint alleged that although five different birthdates of Zia were found through various sources, none was on August 15. It said that despite this, she has been celebrating her birthday on August 15, which is the national mourning day commemorating the assassination

Tax authorities in Bangladesh on Monday decided to unfreeze the bank accounts of Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, 17 years after banks were ordered to block them. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has instructed banks to unfreeze the accounts of BNP Chairperson Zia, the Daily Star newspaper reported. In August 2007, the NBR's Central Intelligence Cell directed banks to freeze the accounts of the BNP Chairperson, who has been elected Bangladesh's prime minister twice since 1990. The decision was based on a recommendation of a panel formed during the then Army-backed caretaker government, said a senior official of the NBR. Since then, her accounts have remained blocked. The BNP has on several occasions demanded that they be unfrozen. The latest move comes after a mass uprising toppled Sheikh Hasina, a long-time rival of Khaleda, on August 5, ending the Bangladesh Awami League's 15-year rule. An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn

The court also ordered the authorities to swiftly take measures to ensure that Zia gets 'advanced treatment' in line with the recommendations of her medical board

The 73-year-old ex-premier is now serving jail terms in two graft cases involving charities named after her slain husband Ziaur Rahman

On Monday, she was sentenced for embezzling millions from the Zia Charitable Trust

Zia and three of her aides were accused of syphoning off 31.5 million taka from the Zia Charitable Trust alone

Zia was first elected prime minister in 1991, and last served as her country's head of government from 2001 to 2006

Zia, wearing a white sari, appeared in person in the heavily-guarded courtroom amid heightened political tension

In the same case, her son Tarique Rahman and four others have been sentenced to 10 years in jail

Political demonstrations by Zia's centre-right BNP and its Islamist allies in 2014 and 2015 left nearly 200 people dead

Court also issued 4 separate rulings asking govt to explain why proceedings shouldn't be scrapped

The court came up with the bail order after Zia surrendered before it seeking bail in the case

The court ordered seven years in prison and a Taka 200 million fine for Rahman

A case registered against her for instigating a deadly petrol bomb attack on a bus during an anti-govt protest last year.

The warrant was issued over an arson attack on a passenger bus during an anti-government protest campaign last year