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Bangladesh's Former PM Begum Khaleda
Zia Released From Jail |
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September 11, 2008
Bangladesh's army-backed interim government
has released Begum Khaleda Zia, a former prime
minister held on alleged corruption charges,
after more than a year in jail.
Khaleda Zia was released on bail on
Thursday, Ahmed Azam Khan, Zia's lawyer, said.
The former prime minister was arrested on
September 3 last year in an anti-corruption
drive by Bangladesh's military-backed interim
authority, but the high court granted her bail
on Tuesday.
Lawyers and home ministry officials said
the supreme court could still cancel the bail
after hearing the appeal, expected on
September 15.
The military-backed government, which took
power in January 2007 following months of
political violence, moved to bail Khaleda Zia
after diplomats, analysts and civil society
leaders said that elections - due in December
- could not be considered credible if she
remained behind bars because her party would
boycott and try to thwart it.
Elections due
Both Khaleda Zia and her rival, Sheikh
Hasina, another former prime minister, along
with about 170 politicians were arrested in
the government's anti-corruption drive.
Hasina, who was released on parole, is
currently in the US for medical treatment. She
is expected to return home in October before a
firm date for the December elections is
announced and campaigning starts.
Both women deny any wrongdoing and have
accused the interim government of harassing
politicians.
The two women lead the country's biggest
political parties, with the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP), headed by Khaleda Zia,
and the Awami League, headed by Hasina.
Between them they ruled Bangladesh
alternately for 15 years to October 2006.
Over the past two months, more than 50 of
the detained political leaders, including
former ministers and Tareque Rahman, Khaleda
Zia's son and her political heir, have been
freed on bail so they can contest the upcoming
elections. |
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