Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia today skipped a court appearance for indictment hearing in criminal, graft and sedition cases, citing "sudden illness".
"She (Zia) has suddenly fallen ill, so we seek to defer the hearing," a counsel of the ex-premier told Dhaka's Metropolitan Judge's Court filing a petition.
Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah accepted Zia's petition and deferred the hearing until March 28 but said the 71-year-old former ex-premier could be indicted even in absentia even if she failed to appear on that day.
The opposition leader is an accused in 25 cases and she last appeared before different Dhaka courts on August 10, 2016 and secured bails but she refrained from appearing on scheduled dates citing different reasons while all the cases now came under Metropolitan Sessions Judge's jurisdiction.
In view of her repeated nonappearance, the court had warned Zia of issuing arrest warrant if she failed to appear before it.
Besides the 25 cases, Zia is now being tried in two other graft cases while the Supreme Court last week cleared the way for a lower court to continue her trial.
Police last year filed nine criminal cases accusing the ex-premier of instigating series of clandestine arson attacks on public vehicles to enforce a protracted nationwide blockade as part of BNP-led four-party alliance's violent campaign against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Awami League over election issue.
BNP boycotted the January 5, 2014 general elections under Awami League government and appeared as the main opposition outside parliament.
Zia is facing a sedition charge for her "slanderous" comments over the 1971 Liberation War Martyrs number in December last year when she "expressed doubts" about the casualty figures of 1971 Liberation War while officially three million people were killed during the nine-month long war against Pakistan.
"There are controversies over how many were martyred in the Liberation War. There are also many books and documents on the controversies," Zia said in a public address, sparking a nationwide uproar at that time.
Zia's BNP is a crucial ally of Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan while two of its top leaders were senior ministers in her past 2001-2006 BNP-led four-party alliance government.
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